Fazbear University
by ingslayer
Summary: Anthro AU. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy are starting college at Fazbear University, the best mixed human-Anthro school in the country. However, as the gang try to explore who they are during this time while dealing with academics, romance, and prejudice, a revolution is starting, one that could change the world they live in forever. (Changed rating to M)
1. Prologue

"Wake up, Freddy, we're almost there."

Freddy woke with a start. He looked around to find himself in the passenger seat of a moving car. His father, a dark brown bear of almost 50 was driving. Freddy was confused at first, slowly sitting up in his seat and yawning. After a few seconds of being awake, he remembered where he was: he was going to college.

Frederick Fazbear III (or Freddy, as he preferred to be called), was an 18 year old grizzly bear of average height and a somewhat heavy build and a mind that was brilliant beyond comparison. He had graduated from his high school with a 4.0 GPA as the valedictorian and president of several academic honor societies. He had also scored a nearly perfect score on all of his college entrance exams, so he naturally had been awarded a full academic scholarship to the best school in the country: Fazbear University.

Freddy looked out the window to see that they were driving through a fairly dense forest on a small, winding road with no other cars in sight.

"Dad, are you sure we're not lost?" Freddy asked, yawning again. He looked at the clock on the dashboard: 2:30. He had been asleep nearly 4 hours, no wonder he was so groggy.

"Nonsense, this is a shortcut." Freddy's dad replied confidently. "I used it all the time when I was here to avoid all the traffic on the highway."

Freddy's father, Frederick Fazbear Jr. (or Frederick), was a Fazbear University alumnus himself, class of 1987. He had graduated with a degree in Business, and now was the CEO of one of the biggest, most successful robotics companies in the country. To say the Fazbears were rich didn't even begin scratch the surface.

Freddy was skeptical, but sure enough, the road straightened out and led out of the forest. Freddy was immediately met with the sight of a massive building the size of a museum surrounded by several smaller buildings.

"That building right there is the Main Library." Frederick said proudly, gesturing towards the distant building. "That's where you'll register for classes, pick up your dorm key, and there's even a..."

Freddy had already tuned his father out, having heard this speech more times than he cared to count. Freddy had had Fazbear University practically shoved down his throat all his life. To say that Frederick he was a loyal alumnus would be a severe understatement; he was president of the alumni board, and made very generous annual donations to the University. He had been taking Freddy to football games since before Freddy could even talk.

These outings usually were just Freddy and his dad, although his mom would occasionally join them if her work schedule permitted. His mom Sarah, also a Fazbear University alumnus, had met his father while in college and graduated with a degree in Marketing and had been a real estate agent. Freddy didn't care much for football, not being much of an athlete, but between his parents' busy work schedules and his own studies, this was some of the only quality family time they had.

"Well, Freddy?" his father asked.

Freddy was startled, he had been so lost in thought that he didn't even hear his father speak to him.

"Sorry," Freddy said quickly, "What were you saying?"

"I was just asking which dorm you hope you'll be in?" Frederick asked again.

"Oh, I don't really care." Freddy said absentmindedly, "Hopefully one that's close to all of my classes."

"Well then, that's Cawthon." Frederick replied enthusiastically. "That's where I stayed as a Freshman."

"Uh-huh.." Freddy said, not really paying attention anymore. He continued to stare out the window as the car approached the University.

* * *

Bonnie sat in the back seat of his parents' truck with his headphones in, looking out the window. He excitedly sat up as the university campus came into view on the road ahead of them. He elbowed his sister, Chica, who has been reading and not paying attention.

"Ow, what was that for?" Chica said, annoyed at the interruption.

"We're almost here, look!" Bonnie said as he pointed ahead at the biggest building. Chica's expression almost immediately turned from annoyance to amazement.

Bonnie and Chica had never actually seen the place they would call home for the next four years in person. They had seen all of the brochures and pictures online, but nothing could have prepared them for how big and grandiose the campus was.

Boniface Bunny (or Bonnie) was a short, skinny purple rabbit, although his long purple ears more than made up for his lack of height. He was very shy and sensitive, leaving him very prone to bullies in school. Francisca Chicken (or Chica), Bonnie older twin sister, was an average sized yellow chicken, and somewhat of a tomboy. She never wore makeup, liked to keep her feathers short, and was usually the one who came to the rescue when Bonnie was picked on because of his height or shyness. There was one incident in the 8th grade where Chica put someone in the hospital with a broken jaw after she had stolen Bonnie's phone and held it above his head where he couldn't reach it. Because of incidents like these, neither of them had many friends in high school except each other. This is why they were so excited to go to college: it was a fresh start that they both so desperately wanted.

The twins were snapped out of their stupor by the car suddenly stopping, followed by their father honking his horn angrily.

"Damn it, get this traffic moving!" The orange rooster yelled. A traffic jam had occurred on the road ahead of them.

"Sweetie, that won't make the traffic move any faster." Their mother, another purple rabbit, said calmly from the passenger seat.

Charles Chicken, Bonnie and Chica's father, was not a patient man. He worked long hours as a restaurant owner, and would often be very on edge by the time he got home. His family knew not to confront him during this time. However, in spite of this, they knew he cared deeply for his family and worked hard to provide for them.

His wife Bella Bunny, was calm, sweet, and caring, if not maybe too passive at times. She rarely confronted or stood up to Charles, often insisting that they let him "do things his own way", in her words. Because of Charles work, she was left to care for the kids mostly on her own in their infancy. Her children (especially Bonnie) grew very attached to her over their father as they grew up because of this.

Bonnie and Chica stared at each other awkwardly as traffic began moving, slowly but surely. Bonnie shifted in his seat uncomfortably as their father yelled at someone for changing lanes "too slow". Bonnie would be lying if he wasn't looking forward to getting away from his dad.

* * *

"Foxy, are you sure you want to live in a dorm?" The white and pink vixen asked the red fox worriedly. "You know we live close enough that you can just stay here."

"Aunt Mangle, I'll be fine." Foxy replied, smiling. "I want the full college experience, and I want to make new friends on campus."

Foxy and his aunt had just started loading his belongings into the trunk of his car. His aunt was very overprotective of her nephew. Foxy knew she meant well, but he still needed space. Mangle fortunately understood this, although she was reluctant to at first.

Fawkes Fox (or Foxy) was a tall, red fox with a lean, athletic build. He lived in the town where Fazbear University was located with his Aunt Mangle. He had lived with her since his parents died when he was 6. He was staying with his mother's sister while his parents were on a cruise for their 10th anniversary. Foxy never really knew what happened; one day he walked downstairs to find his aunt crying. When he asked her what was wrong, she told him that his parents weren't coming back, and that she was going to take care of him from then on.

"I know you will be, I just worry about you," Mangle replied, helping Foxy lift his single, rather large suitcase into the trunk.

Foxy was a military brat. His father served in the navy for 20 years before retiring when Foxy was 6. Because of this, Foxy had moved so many times as a young child that he had learned the most efficient way to pack for any trip or move. Packing for college was par for the course for the fox.

"Like you said I won't be far away," said Foxy.

Mangle looked at her nephew for a few seconds before drawing him into a hug. "I'm so proud of you, you know that right?" She said softly, "And I know your parents would be proud of you too."

"Th-thank you." Foxy choked out, tearing up at the mention of his parents. He was very young, but he could still vividly remember the last time he saw them.

_"Mommy, why do you and Daddy have to leave?" the young kit asked, hugging his mom's leg._

_"Because, sweetie, your dad and I need some alone time while you spend the week with your Auntie Mangle." his mother said sweetly, crouching down to hug her son._

_"But why can't I come with you?" Foxy asked, starting to cry._

_"Tell you what," his father said, also squatting, "if we hear from Auntie Mangle that you behave yourself while we're gone, then we'll all go on a vacation this summer, OK?"_

_Foxy smiled at this. After a final hug form both of his parents, he held his Aunt Mangle's hand as he watch his parents get in their car and drive away._

Foxy quickly snapped back to reality and got in is car and started the ignition. He waved one last good-bye to his aunt before starting the 10 minute drive to Fazbear University.


	2. Orientation

Freddy's car pulled into the parking lot outside the main library, and he and his dad stepped outside and walked towards the entrance. The lot was very crowded with new students and their parents who were all making their way to the building. There was a pretty even mix of humans and Anthropomorphic animals, or "Anthros" as they preferred to be called.

Freddy looked around nervously, staying close to his father, as he didn't exactly have a great personal history with humans. Even though he went to a mixed human-Anthro private school with a "zero-tolerance" bullying policy, the majority of the administration was human, and often chose to turn a blind eye to discrimination and bigotry towards Anthros. Freddy specifically remembered the senior class assembly when he was announced valedictorian; he was elated, but that quickly subsided when the salutatorian, Robert Wade (a human), caused an uproar by declaring that he deserved it over "some damn furry". When Freddy complained to the principal, he told him that he had more important issues to deal with.

Meanwhile, Foxy had just parked his car and was walking towards the building, whistling a jolly pirate tune as he went. Being around humans had never been an issue for him; he was taught from an early age (by both his parents and his aunt) to be accepting of others regardless of species. His went to a mixed school like Freddy, but his school actually enforced its zero-tolerance policy. If anything, this made the fox somewhat naive, as he assumed that everyone would be as accepting and friendly towards both humans and Anthros as himself.

He was wrong.

Bonnie and Chica practically jumped out of the truck and ran towards the library as soon as the car stopped moving, with their parents following slowly behind them. Charles looked like he was about to shout after them, but Bella cut him off.

"We can't hold on forever, Charles," she said to her husband, "We have to let them be their own people."

Charles grumbled something about embarrassment before reluctantly walking with his wife towards the library.

* * *

Bonnie and Chica looked around with amazement when they saw the inside the the atrium. There were massive stained glass windows everywhere, depicting different historical and mythical figures, both human and Anthro. The ground level featured several display cases with various artifacts and papers which one could only assume contained the history of the University. Directly in front of them was an auditorium which all of the students had begun filing into. On either side of the entrance to the auditorium were two marble staircases which led upstairs. The wall just above the auditorium sported 3 flags: the American flag, the state flag, and a third flag they didn't recognize. This third flag was brown, purple, yellow, and red, each color taking up a corner starting clockwise from the top left. The center was a white circle featuring a silhouette of a handshake between a human hand and what appeared to be a bear paw.

"Freddy, that flag there is the Fazbear University flag," Frederick said excitedly to his son as they walked into the atrium.

"Yes, I know," Freddy replied, "I've seen it a thousand times, we have one in our living room. And the kitchen. And every bathroom."

"Well, isn't it exciting seeing one here?" Frederick asked. Before Freddy could reply, he ran over to a display case featuring a black top hat and microphone.

Freddy sighed. He wanted to be excited about coming to school here, he really did. But right now it's seemed his father was more excited than he was.

Since he was left alone, he walked over to the registration table outside the auditorium doors and stood in line.

Foxy meanwhile had walked into the atrium and was making his way over to the auditorium before tripping and almost falling. He looked down to see that his shoe was untied so he bent down to fix it, just missing the purple rabbit dart past him.

Bonnie was having the time of his life. Everything here was so new, so fresh. A display case with a red electric guitar caught his eye. He thought of his own guitar as he admired it: a cheap acoustic guitar that he bought at a yard sale about 8 years ago and fixed up himself. It was his most treasured belonging, and he would never have dreamed of replacing it. Still, he felt a pang of envy as he observed the sleek, modern design of the instrument.

Chica, meanwhile, had calmed down more quickly than her brother after her initial reaction to the size and grandeur of the atrium. She made her way towards the registration table and stood behind a blonde human girl. The girl smiled at Chica, but Chica turned away nervously.

Unlike Freddy or Foxy, Bonnie and Chica went to an all-Anthro school, so their interaction with humans had been very limited up to that point. Charles, who had grown up in a different time, felt a great deal of animosity towards humans, and had attempted to instill this mentality upon his children. Thanks to Bella's caring influence, the twins didn't hate humans like their father; they were, however, a little scared of them.

Meanwhile, Freddy had reached the front of the line.

"Last name, please?" The receptionist, an old tabby cat asked him, not looking up from her sign-in sheet.

"Fazbear." Freddy replied.

The receptionist looked up and raised an eyebrow at Freddy, thinking he was playing a prank.

"ID, please." She said, not breaking eye contact.

Freddy sighed and pulled out his wallet from his pants pocket. He handed the feline his driver's license. She inspected it thoroughly, even holding it up to the light. Freddy was becoming uncomfortably aware of the growing line behind him. The receptionist finally accepted it as real, found his name on the sign-in sheet, and checked it off, handing Freddy a slip of paper and his license back.

"Take that piece of paper to the table upstairs after the assembly. That'll get you your dorm key. It also has your code that will let you sign up for classes online. Next!" She said, sternly ushering Freddy away.

Freddy made his way into the auditorium, but not before looking back to notice a human boy glaring at him, presumably for holding up the line for so long. Freddy growled softly, quickly causing the boy to look away, scared. Smirking, Freddy continued into the auditorium, taking his seat in the back row.

* * *

"Last name?" The receptionist asked Chica, who had reached the front of the line.

"Chicken." Chica replied.

"Francisca?" The reception asked, looking at her list.

"Yes." Chica responded.

The receptionist checked off her name, and handed her a slip of paper.

"Take that piece of-" She started to say.

"Yeah, I know, I heard you the last 7 times you said it." The bird interrupted, snatching the piece of paper from the cat and walking into the auditorium.

She looked around and spotted a brown bear sitting alone in the back.

_Well, I guess it's time to make friends._ Chica thought as she approached the bear.

"Excuse me," she said, causing the bear to look up. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Not at all." The bear replied, smiling as the bird sat down in the seat to his left.

"I'm Freddy, what's your name?" He asked, extending his paw.

"Chica." She replied as she shook his paw with her wing.

* * *

"Last name?"

"Fox."

"First name?"

"Fawkes."

"Seriously?"

"Did I stutter?"

Foxy heard snickering behind him. A black bull and brunette girl were laughing at the exchange, clearly amused by the red canine's name. Foxy tried to ignore them as the receptionist handed him his slip of paper, but the bull reached out his hoof and tripped the fox. Foxy fell on all fours, hitting the ground with a thud. He turned to the bovine, still on all fours, and bared his sharp teeth at him, snarling.

The bull, obviously looking for a fight, got down on all fours too and snorted. The fox's red fur only served to further infuriate him. However just as he was about to charge, they were startled by a loud hissing.

"YOU'RE HOLDING UP THE LINE!" The receptionist shouted at them. Silence fell in the atrium as all attention was drawn to the reception table. Foxy looked at the bull once more before standing up, brushing off his shirt, and walking to the auditorium, aware that all eyes were on him. He spotted an empty seat in the middle section of the auditorium.

_Way to make an ass of yourself on the first day, idiot._ Foxy thought to himself as he shuffled over to the seat and sat down.

* * *

The rest of registration went by without incident after the almost fight. Bonnie was the last person to register, as he had spent a lot of time looking at all of the different display cases and stained glass windows with great excitement and interest. He was so absorbed in the grandeur of the hall that he hadn't even noticed the confrontation between the fox and the bull

"Last name?" The reception asked, clearly very tired at this point.

"Bunny." Bonnie replied. "Boniface Bonny."

The receptionist looked at her list, checked off the rabbit's name, and handed him a piece of paper.

"Take that piece of paper to the table upstairs after the assembly. That'll get you your dorm key. It also has your code that will let you sign up for classes online." She said quickly before standing up, grabbing her bag, and quickly leaving the library. Bonnie walked into the now almost full auditorium and looked for a seat.

He saw only one seat available on the end of a row, right next to a red-headed human girl. Bonnie gulped and walked over there slowly. He sat down slowly, avoiding eye contact with her; she barely noticed his presence.

Almost as soon as Bonnie sat down, the lights dimmed, and the talking in the auditorium died down. Everyone looked at the stage, waiting for someone to walk out. However, all they heard was a phone ring at the front of the audience.

Sure enough, on stage, there was a telephone sitting on a stool with a microphone right in front of it. The students looked around at each other, very confused, as the phone continued to ring. After a few more rings a tall black figure wearing a white mask walked (almost glided) on stage, pushed a button on the phone, and left the stage.

_Uh, hello? Hello, hello? Uh, I wanted to record a message for you, to help you get settled in on your first day. Um, I would normally do this in person but, uh, I'm actually out of the country until classes start, so, uh, you know. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that there's nothing to worry about. Uh, you'll be fine. So, um, let's just focus on getting you through Orientation._

_You should have already signed in and gotten a little slip of paper. Uh, that paper is very important, as it contains all the information that you need in order to get settled in as you start this exciting journey at Fazbear University. Right after this assembly, you should go upstairs using the stairwells located to the left and right of this auditorium. There you should see two more registration tables, organized by last name. This is where you'll find out your dorm room assignment and get your key. After that, you're free to either move into your dorm or you can sign up for classes. Uh, you can either use your own personal computer or one of the library computers to do this, but you'll still need the login information from your slip of paper. Hehe, told that paper was important right?_

_Anyway, after you move in to your dorm and sign up for classes, you're actually free until classes start on Monday. Uh, that gives you two days full days to enjoy the beautiful campus of Fazbear University. There's a lake, a pool, uh, you can also explore the woods over behind the science building if you want. There's also a wide variety of restaurants and such in town just east of the campus. Um, I'd check out the pizza place if I were you, that was always my favorite. Well, anyway, I'll leave you with this special presentation on the history of the University. Um, it's kinda old, we haven't updated it in almost 30 years, but uh, you know, it's still good stuff. OK, good night._

_*click*_

The projector screen began to lower from the auditorium ceiling. Bonnie looked around nervously; something seemed a little off about the guy on the phone. Who exactly was he? And why did he feel the need to reassure them that they were going to be fine?

Bonnie didn't have time to think too hard about it, since the projector lit up and a film began to play. It was very old and staticy, probably from the late 80s or early 90s. It showed a shot of the University campus, though it was much smaller than it was now. A voiceover began to speak.

_Up until November of 1952, humans and Anthros lived in peace with each other. __However, a group of human radicals attacked a mostly Anthro village in Texas. This skirmish resulted in a two casualties: an Anthro bear cub and a human child._

The screen now showed a black and white image of the two dead children, laying side by side.

_This sparked a Civil War that would last only 5 months. Severely outnumbered and outgunned, Anthros were almost completely wiped out before they surrendered to the humans in April of 1953._

The image of the kids turned into two pictures: a portrait of a human man standing in the Oval Office wearing a purple suit, and a yellow Anthro rabbit wearing a general's uniform.

_The human president at the time, Vincent Price, and the Anthro general, General Spring, both signed a treaty stipulating that humans would no longer kill Anthros on sight in exchange for Anthros giving up many of their fundamental rights, such as free speech, assembly, and fair trial. General Spring died in his home that night, with rumors stating that he had been poisoned by President Price. This treaty came to be known as the "Spring Trap", since, while it stopped the war, it put the Anthros in a far worse position: they were no longer equal to humans._

These photos faded away, leaving a black screen.

_Still, all hope was not lost. In 1957, 4 years after the Spring Trap, President Price died suddenly of a heart attack. Some suspected foul play but it was never proven. This left the office of presidency to Price's Vice President, Jonathan Gold, an Anthro advocate who had been elected to office before the war._

Now, another presidential portrait, this time of a man wearing a yellow suit.

_The newly sworn-in President Gold had a goal to reintegrate Anthro and human society. His first act as president was to sign an executive order repealing the Spring Trap to reinstate Civil Rights for Anthros. President Gold then signed a charter for a new university that would be for both humans and Anthros, in hopes that the next generation would be more accepting of others._

The shot changed to a photo of President Gold shaking hands with a yellow Anthro bear.

_This charter was given to a golden Anthro bear named Frederick Fazbear, who would become the first president of Fazbear University. The hope was that this University would stand as a symbol of equality and peace for humans and Anthros alike._

The shot began cycling through stills and short clips of students on campus either studying, playing sports in class, or laughing and eating, and the alma mater began to play over the voice over.

_Now, as we celebrate the 30th birthday of our fine University, we look back and honor those who gave their lives so that we might have a bright future: a future where no one is discriminated against because of their species. As you begin your educational journey here, remember that, by fulfilling your own dreams, you are fulfilling the dreams of so many that came before you. Thank you and remember to smile, you are the face of Fazbear University._

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey guys, I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! It's my first fanfic, so please leave any advice on how I could improve. Anyway, I don't want to make a habit of putting author's notes every chapter, but I do want to just clarify a few things about the story as well as the Universe.**

**1\. The Anthros in this universe have very similar body types/customs to humans. For example, they wear clothes, walk on two feet, and have opposable thumbs. However, I will still refer to hands as paws, faces as muzzles, etc.**

**2\. While Anthros are "civilized", they still have a feral side to them (as seen by the confrontation between Foxy and the bull). This is one of the reasons that some humans hate them so much; they still see them as animals.**

**3\. Anthros can cross-breed with Anthros of a different species, but not humans. This is why Bonnie and Chica are biological twins. However, the offspring of two different Anthro species will still only have the genetic characteristics of one. These means that, while Bonnie is the child of a chicken and a rabbit, he still is 100% rabbit, and doesn't retain any recessive chicken genes.**

**4\. All Anthros are "born", like mammals. i.e. Chica did not hatch from an egg.**

**5\. This story will contain shipping, as mentioned by the genre/description. However, it will not be the primary focus of the story, since this isn't exclusively a ship fic. Also, I'm not saying who is/isn't getting paired up yet, because spoilers. ;) Feel free to drop your guesses in a review, though!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, and see you guys next chapter!**


	3. Roommates

The lights in the auditorium turned on and the students began to make their way to the doors in the back. Freddy and Chica were the first to leave, being in the back of the audience.

"So Freddy," Chica asked the bear as they began to walk up the stairs, "What are you thinking about majoring in?"

"Mechanical Engineering." Freddy answered, "I've been interested in machines and how they work since I was really little. What about you?" Freddy left out the part about his dad's robotics company, not wanting to come off as snobbish.

"Undecided." Chica replied as she shrugged, "I didn't really excel at anything in high school, although I always liked history, so maybe I'll give that a try."

The pair had reached the top of the stairs and saw several more registration tables, sorted by last name. They stood in the one marked "A-F" and continued their conversation.

"Speaking of history, what did you think of that presentation of the history of the University?" Chica asked Freddy, "I thought it was really cool."

"It was interesting, but nothing new to me." Freddy responded, averting his eyes. "Both of my parents went here, so I've grown up learning about this school."

Chica frowned. The bear was definitely hiding something.

_Why is he so ashamed of something like that?_ Chica thought to herself as the bear adjusted his shirt collar.

The chicken's question was answered when they reached the front of the line. The receptionist, this time an middle-aged human male, looked up from his sign-in sheet.

"Last name, please?" he asked the bear.

"Fazbear." Freddy responded with a sigh.

The receptionist looked down at his list and checked off his name before reaching into a case full of keys, organized by building and room numbers. He picked up one with a C engraved into the side and proceeded to hand it to Freddy. However, just as Freddy was about to take the key from him, he pulled the key away from Freddy as a look of realization came over his face.

"Oh, you must be Frederick's kid!" he exclaimed. "He and I were fraternity brothers. Man, I haven't seen that bear in years! Is he here?"

Freddy winced; this was exactly the kind of attention he didn't want.

"Y-yeah, he's here." Freddy muttered. "Should be downstairs somewhere."

"I'll have to meet up with him after registration's done. Don't let him leave, OK?" The man said excitedly. "So anyway, Freddy, how's Orientation going so far?"

"It's fine," Freddy said quickly. He had already held up one line today. "Look, can I just get my-"

"That's great!" the man interrupted, unaware of how uncomfortable Freddy was becoming. "Hey, what was it like seeing your Grandpa Goldie in his youth? I love that video, you know. I always get chills during that part at the end."

Freddy was thoroughly embarrassed at this point. Several people were staring at this point, with lots of people whispering and pointing.

"Hey, that's the founder's grandkid, I heard he was starting school this year."

"Huh, just another legacy then. You know, some of us actually had to work to get in."

"I heard they're super rich, do you think he just bought his way in?"

"I wonder if he could get me his dad's autograph."

Freddy looked back to the table to see the man holding out the key again.

"Anyway, you'll be staying in Cawthon 203." the man said with a grin, unaware of the crowd that had gathered around his table, "Right next to the science building, your dad knows where it is."

Freddy took the key and his slip back and quickly walked, almost ran towards the stairs as tears formed in his eyes.

Chica stared after him; she had been silent during this whole exchange. She turned to the man and quickly told him her name and showed him her slip. After receiving her key (this one with an S), she quickly followed after Freddy, barely hearing the man shout after her.

"It's Scott 169!"

Unable to find him in the atrium, she walked outside. The bird turned right to see him crying at a picnic table about 20 feet from the library entrance, so she slowly walked over to him.

"Freddy," she started as she sat next to him for the second time that day. "Short for?"

"Frederick." the bear replied mid-sob. "Frederick Fazbear III."

Chica pulled a napkin out of her pocket and handed it to Freddy. Freddy wiped his eyes and began to speak.

"That bear in the video, Frederick Fazbear Sr., was my Grandfather." Freddy began, "My father, Frederick Fazbear Jr., went to school here back in the 80s and owns Fazbear Entertainment. My entire life I have lived in their shadows. It's not enough that I just share their name. I'm expected to be just as successful as them, but I don't even know if I want to.

"That's why I go by Freddy instead of Frederick, or even Fred." Freddy explained, looking Chica in the eye. "To try to create my own identity. Every time anyone hears my full name, they launch into a tirade about how much both of them have done. They all have so many preconceived notions about what I'm supposed to do, yet no one seems cares about me. Usually the only reason people are nice to me is because they want something from me or my family."

Freddy buried his muzzle in his paws as he began crying again; he clearly had these feelings bottled up for a while now but no one with whom to share them. Chica looked at Freddy for a few seconds before speaking.

"Freddy," Chica began, smiling, "I knew next to nothing about this school before coming here, so I have no preconceived notions of you or your family. As far as I'm concerned, you're not Frederick Fazbear III, grandson of the University's founder and son of a rich CEO. You're Freddy, the boy who let me sit next to him during our Orientation assembly, and the only thing that I want from you is for you to be my friend."

Freddy smiled at Chica as he wiped away his tears. "I'd like that too Chica. Thank you."

Freddy was interrupted by the sound of a car horn honking. He looked over to see his dad waving at him from the car.

"It's my dad, I've gotta go move into my dorm." Freddy said, standing up. "It was really nice meeting you, Chica. I'll see you around."

He waved good-bye as he jogged towards the car. Chica grinned as she stood up as well and walked back into the library to find Bonnie and her parents.

_See? _Chica thought to herself. _Making friends isn't that hard._

* * *

Foxy, meanwhile had just gotten to the front of the dorm key line, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone. He had caused quite a scene back in the atrium, and didn't exactly have an easy time hiding in a crowd.

"Last name, please?" the receptionist said with a happy look on his face. Something had clearly just put him in a good mood.

"Fox." the canine replied, handing the human his slip.

The receptionist frowned, not even looking at the slip bearing the red fox's name.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to stand in that line over there." he told Foxy, gesturing towards a line marked "N-S". Foxy sighed, highly annoyed at this.

"No, Fox with an 'F', not a 'Ph'," Foxy said as calmly as possible. He really didn't want another fight. The receptionist stared at him blankly.

"Like the animal." he continued, gesturing to himself.

The receptionist looked at his list again before laughing and checking Foxy's name off. He then handed Foxy his slip back along with a key with an 'S' engraved in the side.

"You'll be staying in Scott 321. If you go out the main entrance to this building, just go directly north and you'll see two dorm buildings. Scott is the one on the left."

"Thank you," Foxy replied before leaving. As he turned the corner in the stairwell, he bumped into a large rooster who was walking up the stairs. As they collided, the rooster almost lost his balance and fell, but remained upright anyway.

"Oh, excuse me," Foxy apologized, "I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Yeah, I noticed." the rooster snapped at the fox, making him jump back. "Anyway, since you're so observant, have you seen my son? He's a scrawny purple rabbit, you can't miss him."

"Uh, no," Foxy said as he slowly backed away towards the atrium doors, "I haven't. Sorry."

Foxy was very careful to avoid any more contact, human or otherwise, on the trip back outside. He quickly ran out of the library. As soon as Foxy was in the driver's seat, he thought about what the rooster had said.

_Scrawny? Probably not the best way to describe your own kid to a stranger. Oh well, not really any of my business, is it?_ He thought to himself as a started the car and drove towards his dorm.

* * *

"Boniface Bunny!"

Bonnie flinched at the sound of his full name, turning around to see his father at the top of the stairs. Bonnie was standing in line to get his key, but Charles had already walked over to him to lecture him.

"About time we found you," the rooster began, "While you were busy gawking at fancy windows, your sister actually got her dorm key and even registered for classes already."

"Dad," Bonnie said as he became increasingly self-conscious about the attention they were getting, "I'm in line to get my key right now. I'll be down in a few minutes."

"Just hurry up. Some of us have important things to do today." Charles muttered as he turned around and left.

Bonnie hung his head as he reached the front of the line.

"Er, last name?" The receptionist asked awkwardly, having witnessed the whole thing.

"Bunny." Bonnie replied, ears drooping, as he handed the man his slip. The man handed him a key with a 'C'.

"You'll be staying in Cawthon 203. If you go out the main entrance to this building, just go directly north and you'll see two dorm buildings. Cawthon is the one on the right."

"Thanks." Bonnie replied sadly as he walked away slowly. As he made his way back to the truck to join his family, he thought about what his dad had said.

_Some of us have important things to do today._

Bonnie and his father had never seen eye to eye on anything. Charles pushed both of his kids to play sports when they were younger, but Bonnie just didn't have the aptitude (Chica was far more athletic than her brother). Charles expected Bonnie to make all As in school in spite of Charles himself dropping out halfway through senior year. Charles screamed at Bonnie for a good hour and half after Bonnie bought his guitar with all of his saved up allowance, telling him music was a waste of time. He even cut off Bonnie's allowance then and there, telling him that he "clearly couldn't spend money responsibly". Still, in spite of all of Charles expectations, he never seemed to have time for his son, even after 18 years.

Bonnie got in the truck and glanced over at Chica, who was still smiling from her encounter with Freddy. He sighed and pulled out his phone as Charles drove the truck to the northern part of campus.

"So, Bonnie," Bella asked, wanting to break the awkward silence, "Which dorm are you staying in?"

"Cawthon." Bonnie replied, not looking up. Bella knew that her son was upset, likely from something that Charles had said when he went to find him.

"Well," the purple female rabbit said cheerfully, "That's right next to Scott, where Chica is staying. That certainly makes moving in easier. Don't you agree, Charles?"

The rooster grunted as he continued driving.

* * *

"So Freddy, who was that girl you were talking to?" Frederick asked his son, who had just gotten in the car.

"Oh, that's Chica," Freddy replied, not really paying attention as his father drove towards the dorms. He was still thinking about what Chica had said.

_The only thing that I want from you is for you to be my friend._

"Oh, I know that look." Frederick teased, elbowing his son.

Freddy realized he had been smiling ever since he got in the car.

"It's not like that," Freddy began, somewhat embarrassed, "It just that- never mind." He stopped. He thought telling his father why he was so happy would upset him, so he decided to leave it.

"Anyway, here we are. Welcome to your new home." Frederick announced as he parked the car outside of Cawthon.

"Wait, how did you know where I was staying?" asked Freddy.

"That key in your paw." Frederick gestured to Freddy's right paw, which sure enough, was still holding the key with the 'C' clearly visible. "They haven't changed the design of these buildings in 40 years."

The two bears got out of the car and walked around to the back. Freddy put on his backpack and grabbed a large suitcase containing most of his clothes. Frederick picked up a garment bag full of dress clothes (Freddy had built up quite a collection) and two garbage bags containing other odds and ends. Between the two of them, they were able to get everything in one trip. They walked inside the lobby of the building, went towards the open elevator, got in and pushed 2.

When they arrived at Freddy's dorm room, Freddy looked at the piece of paper taped to the door.

_Cawthon 203_

_Frederick Fazbear III - Mechanical Engineering_

_Boniface Bonnie - Undecided_

Freddy turned his key in the lock and opened the door to witness the simple layout of the room. Right at the entryway there were two dressers across from each other. Inside the main area of the room were two lofted beds on each side of the room with desks beneath them. It wasn't very roomy, but Freddy didn't mind.

Frederick set down the bags he was carrying.

"Well, Freddy, do you need any help unpacking?" he asked, looking around the room.

"I think I'm good." Freddy replied, setting down his own bag on the bed to the right. "I guess I'll register for classes now and wait for my roommate to show up."

Frederick smiled at his son before embracing him in a hug.

"Best of luck, Freddy,' the older bear began, "You will do great things, I know it. And remember you can always call me, day or night. I always have time to talk with you."

"I know, dad." Freddy replied as he returned the hug. Frederick got up and left, but not before smiling at his son one more time.

After his dad had left, Freddy pulled his laptop out of his backpack and placed it on his desk. After opening it and powering it on, he began scouring the schedule of classes, looking for the ones he needed for his major.

* * *

Once Foxy reached the his dorm he got out of his car and pulled out his belongings from the trunk. He carried his backpack and suitcase towards the building, only to find that the front door was locked.

_Great._ The fox thought to himself, annoyed. _Must be the security system. You would think that they would leave the building unlocked today._

He was just about to look for another way in when the door suddenly opened. The rooster from before was storming out of the building, clearly upset about something. He glared at the fox before walking across the parking lot.

Foxy used the opportunity to get into the building. The lobby contained two hallways to the left and right, and a pair of elevators in the middle. Foxy walked over to the elevator and pressed the up button, waiting for the elevator to arrive.

While the fox was waiting, Chica had run after her father.

"Dad!" she called out, "Please come back! Can't we talk about this?"

Annoyed, she followed the rooster outside to try to get his attention.

Meanwhile, Bonnie was alone in Chica's room. He and Charles had helped Chica move her belongings into her room. Bonnie just stood there awkwardly thinking about what had happened just moments earlier.

When the trio had arrived in Chica's room, they saw that Chica's roommate Chelsea had already moved in, but she was nowhere to be found. As Bonnie helped his sister unpack her suitcase, Charles began looking through the other girl's belongings.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Chica asked her father, incredulous, "That's a huge invasion of privacy! What are you even looking for?"

"A picture of her." Charles responded. After seeing the shocked look on his children's faces, he quickly added, "No, not like that. I need to make sure she's not human."

"Why would that matter?" Chica questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Because," Charles explained, "I won't have you making friends with a human."

"I'll make friends with whomever I like." Chica snapped. Unlike her brother or mother, Chica wasn't afraid of standing up to her father.

"Not while on my dime, you won't!" Charles shouted before storming off. The twins stood there for a moment before Chica ran after her father.

Now alone, Bonnie grabbed his own belongings from the hall and decided to move into his own dorm. He had packed much lighter than his sister (having less clothes and belongings), so he could move himself in. He arrived in the lobby just as the elevator door closed, once again just missing the red fox. Bonnie looked around the lobby before seeing a side door that led to a walkway between Scott and Cawthon. He decided that it was best to avoid his father until his parents left. He would call his mom and say good-bye later.

* * *

Freddy had just finished registering when his dorm room door opened and a purple rabbit walked it carrying a backpack, duffel bag, and a guitar.

"Hi, I'm Bonnie." he said, setting down the suitcase and extending his right paw. "You must be Frederick."

Freddy stood up and shook the rabbit's paw with his own.

"Just Freddy." The bear replied, smiling.


	4. A Fresh Start

As Freddy shook his new roommate's paw, he took note of the look in the purple rabbit's face. He appeared to be smiling at first glance, but upon closer inspection, his eyes told a different story. Just as Freddy pondered what was troubling the rabbit, Bonnie took his paw back, picked up his bag, and set it on his bed.

"So, Bonnie," Freddy began, looking at Bonnie's belongings on the bed. "Do you need any help moving the rest of your stuff in?"

"Uh, no," Bonnie replied hesitantly, not making eye contact, "This is actually, uh, all I have."

Freddy mentally kicked himself. Here he was already coming off a a rich, pompous jerk, albeit unintentionally. The bear took this opportunity to look the rabbit over in greater detail. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt that had various stains on it that had clearly been there for a while. His faded cargo shorts were tattered at the bottom, and also appeared to have a few stains on them. He wore two mismatched socks that, like his shirt, had at one point been white, but were now a very faded yellow color. His old tennis shoes had few holes in them. Freddy prided himself on not usually making snap judgements, but he knew one thing for certain based on the rabbit's clothes and few belongings: Bonnie was poor.

Freddy immediately become self-conscious of his own expensive clothing, especially the recently purchased polo with the Fazbear University logo on the left side. He also sported a pair of clean, pressed, and dry-cleaned khaki pants as well as a sleek brown belt and custom-fitted dress shoes (his father insisted that Freddy dress up for his first day). Freddy (unsuccessfully) tried to shift over to block the view of his own bed; Freddy's pile of clothes and linens practically tripled that of his roommates. Bonnie looked up and suddenly gave a genuine smile.

"Don't worry," Bonnie began, laughing, "You don't have to try to hide your stuff from me. It's no secret that my family's not exactly rich, but it's nothing I'm ashamed about. It's just the way things are."

Bonnie then kicked his shoes off and set them by the door. After removing his socks and placing them on the bed, he began humming as he opened up his duffel bag and unpacking his clothing into the drawers on the left side of the room. After a few seconds, he continued to speak.

"By the way, I saw your name on the door and put two and two together. And to answer your question, no, I don't think you're stuck up. However, based on your reaction just now, I'd say that you deal with people thinking that a lot. Truthfully though, I think you just want to fit in. That's all I want too: a fresh start."

Freddy was slightly taken aback by the rabbit's sudden change in attitude. Bonnie's demeanor seemed much calmer now than just moments before; something must have distracted him from whatever had happened just before he walked in the door.

"You hit the nail on the head, Bonnie." Freddy replied, chuckling a little bit, as he decided to remove his own shoes and socks as well. He hadn't realized how much his feet had cramped up; even though his shoes were fit to his feet, it was still uncomfortable to wear them for several hours. Freddy also began unpacking, starting by hanging up his dress clothes.

"So, uh, Bonnie?" Freddy hesitantly asked after a few minutes, "About your guitar..."

"No, I'm not going to play it inside the dorm." Bonnie interrupted, laughing. "I don't wanna be 'that guy'. I'm gonna play it outside. Although that would still kinda make me 'that guy'."

Bonnie chuckled as he pulled his pillowcase over the pillow provided by the dorm. Freddy just laughed as he placed a few books on his desk.

"Fair enough," the bear responded, "Although I am curious, how long have you been playing."

"8 years." Bonnie responded as he hung up a gray hoodie. "I got it for $20 at a yard sale, although it looked a lot worse than that. I fixed it up myself."

This conversation led into a conversation about music that lasted about 20 minutes. They discovered that they each had affinity for musical theater, although slightly different types. Freddy's favorite work was the Bizet opera _Carmen_, while Bonnie had grown up listening to the soundtrack of _Les Misérables_. This turned to a discussion about TV shows, then movies, then video games. Freddy and Bonnie were quickly becoming good friends by discovering how much they had in common. Just as they finished unpacking after about an hour, a knock on the door was heard.

"Come in." Bonnie said as he sat down in his chair.

The door opened and Chica walked in. She was wearing a flannel top over a white T-shirt as well as a pair of worn out blue jeans and tattered shoes like Bonnie's. Not having any fur to insulate her like Bonnie or Freddy, she had to dress warmer, even in the summer.

"Bonnie, I finished unpacking and came to to see if-" The bird stopped in her tracks when she saw Freddy.

"Oh, hi Freddy." She gretted after a second, smiling.

"Hey, Chica." Freddy waved back.

Bonnie looked at his sister and roommate with confusion.

"Wait you two know each other?" he asked.

"Yeah, Freddy and I met during Orientation." Chica replied, closing the door behind her. "Freddy, I take it you've met my brother Bonnie."

"Brother?" Freddy asked, looking at the chicken and rabbit, "You'll forgive me if I don't see the family resemblance. And you don't have the same last name?"

"Our mom kept her last name when she married." Bonnie explained, "When we were born, our parents decided to give Chica our dad's name since he's a rooster, and me my mom's name because she's a rabbit."

Bonnie shrugged. Freddy thought to himself for a second. Where he was from, Anthros rarely married outside of their subspecies, although he knew it did happen occasionally. Still, seeing how Bonnie and Chica explained it so matter-of-factly, it was probably commonplace where they were from. He certainly had a lot to learn about the world.

"Anyway," Chica began, changing the subject, "I just came over to see if you needed help unpacking. But you looks like you're done."

"Yeah, but I'm getting pretty hungry." Bonnie said, standing up. "Who's up for dinner?"

Freddy looked over at his desk clock: 6:00. His stomach growled as he realized that he hadn't eaten since about 10:00 that morning.

"I could certainly use something to eat." he said as he went to put his shoes on.

"Me too, but were outta luck." Chica said, crossing her wings, "The dining hall doesn't open until Monday."

"Well, how about we go into town?" Bonnie asked putting on his own shoes as well, "The phone guy from the assembly said the pizza place is really good. Freddy?"

"Sounds good to me," Freddy replied, "Chica?"

"Lead the way, Fazbear." the bird said with a smirk, stepping to the side allowing Freddy to exit the dorm. Bonnie was about to follow behind when he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Shoot!" he exclaimed, bringing his paws up to his head, "I still haven't registered for classes!"

"You can use my laptop," Freddy said, walking back to his laptop and waking it up.

"Really?" Bonnie asked, ears perking up, "Thanks."

He looked at Chica and Freddy before sitting at Freddy's desk.

"You guys go ahead," Bonnie had already begun entering his information on to the website. "I'll catch up later."

"You sure?" Chica asked, about to close the door. Bonnie waved his sister away, still looking at the computer screen.

* * *

Foxy heard loud music coming from inside his dorm room as he stood at the door. A piece of paper hung on the door.

_Scott 321_

_Fawkes Fox - Undecided_

_Theodore Ursine - Business/Pre-Law_

Foxy open the door to see a light brown bear sitting at the left desk. He was wearing a pair of short khaki shorts and a hawaiian shirt with the collar popped, and was quite a bit shorter than the fox. He was drinking a soda and had his bare feet up on the desk next to a speaker (the source of the music). The bear looked up to see Foxy in the doorway.

"Dude!" the bear shouted, before standing up to walk over to Foxy, "Nice to meet you! The name's Ted."

Foxy extended his paw, but, in Ted's effort to vigorously shake it, he spilled his soda all over Foxy's shirt and the floor. Foxy stepped back in surprise before looking up in annoyance.

"Foxy." The canine replied in a flat tone as he shook the bear's paw. Foxy proceeded to set down his suitcase and backpack on his own bed. Ted, completely oblivious to the mess he had made, began to put his shoes on.

"Well, sorry to split on you," the bear said as he opened the door, "but there's a Tau Alpha Nu party tonight, and I'm gonna go check it out. Catch you later, bro!"

Ted slammed the door behind him, leaving Foxy standing in his room alone, music still blaring from the speaker on Ted's desk.

Foxy turned off the speaker and removed his still soaked shirt as well as his shoes and socks, which and gotten wet from standing in the puddle of soda on the floor. Foxy grabbed a washcloth from his suitcase and walked down the hall to the bathroom. When he arrived at the hall bathroom, he put his washcloth under the sink to wet it and returned to his room. He closed (and locked) his door before bending over to wipe up the soda on the floor using the washcloth. After drying the still slightly sticky area using a second, dry washcloth, he began cleaning carbonated drink off of his chest. As he cleaned himself off, he thought about the events that had transpired that day.

Things had started going south when the bull from earlier had provoked the fight with him. Foxy felt somewhat ashamed, but tried not to let it get to him. It was common knowledge that all Anthros had a feral side to them, something that had stuck around in their genetic code even after Anthros had gone on on a totally different evolutionary track than their distant, feral cousins. Still, Foxy had a short temper, and found that he was much more prone to letting that side take over him than other Anthros. And then there was the business with his new roommate.

Foxy decided to go on a run, since that usually helped him clear his head. He was already wearing gym shorts from earlier, and anthros could actually run faster barefoot than with shoes, so he took his phone out and plugged his headphones in before selecting a song. He made his way down the stairs near his dorm room before heading outside and starting to run.

* * *

Bonnie finished registering for classes and closed Freddy's laptop. As he was still undecided, he simply signed up for several core classes that he would need for any major at the University: Calculus 101, English 101, Biology 101, and History 101. He was lucky enough to have all of his classes end by 4:00 each day, since he (and Chica) would need to get a job to help pay for school.

Unlike Freddy, Bonnie was an average student in high school, so he wasn't given much scholarship money from the University. Since Bonnie and Chica's parents didn't make much money, they had to cover part of the cost of college themselves.

As Bonnie put his shoes on and left the room, he realized he had no idea where Freddy and Chica had gone. As he locked the door behind him, he pulled out his phone to text Chica and find out which way they went. He left the building still typing his phone, but, not 10 seconds after he left the building, he was suddenly knocked to the ground by someone who was running by the dorm.

Bonnie, having fallen to the side, turned around to look up at who had hit him. It was a red Anthro canine wearing just a pair of gym shorts. The canine's back was to the setting sun, making it difficult to see his face clearly. He reached down to help the rabbit up.

"Sorry about that," the canine apologized as he pulled Bonnie to his feet, "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"No, it was my fault," Bonnie replied, sending the already-typed message before sheepishly putting his phone away, "I was staring down at my phone and not paying attention."

Now on his feet, Bonnie got a better look at the canine. One look at his face instantly revealed that he was in fact a fox. He was tall and lean, but still muscular. The fur on his bare chest was slightly wet, but, strangely, none of his other fur was. The fox looked around anxiously, as if trying to avoid eye contact, while Bonnie smiled nervously.

"I'm Bonnie." The rabbit suddenly introduced himself, quickly extending his paw.

"Foxy." The fox replied, now also smiling nervously.

The two stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds until Foxy cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Well, um, I actually live in Scott, so, uh, maybe I'll see you around." He said before quickly running off.

Still smiling, Bonnie watched the fox run for several more seconds before being brought back to reality by the feeling of his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out to see "New Messages (1)" on the screen. He swiped the screen to read the message.

_Chica: Head south until you see a big fountain, then go east to the campus gate. Freddy and I are waiting there._

Bonnie responded with a quick "_k"_ before heading south towards the fountain. He thought again about the encounter with Foxy.

_What the hell was that, Bonnie? Did you forget how to meet people?_ He thought to himself before pushing the fox out of his mind and running to catch up to the others.

* * *

"Hey, here he comes now."

Freddy tapped Chica on the shoulder to get her attention just as Bonnie ran up to them.

"Sorry you guys had to wait on me." Bonnie panted, slightly winded from jogging all the way from Cawthon.

"Well, let's go then." Chica replied impatiently, "I'm hungry."

The trio walked through the east gate and saw a small alleyway across the street. As they walked through the alleyway they were met with a street full of restaurants and shops. Freddy's first thought was that it seemed unusually empty for a Friday evening, when he remembered that pretty much the only people in town were freshman here for orientation and the few permanent residents.

Bonnie and Chica had meanwhile become mesmerized by how much variety there was. Bonnie looked to the left and saw several local restaurants: pizza, Chinese, Mexican, BBQ, among countless others. Chica looked right and saw several shops: the school bookstore, sporting goods, clothing, and even a pottery barn. Both sides of the street continued on for what looked like several blocks. Freddy saw his new friends' reactions and chuckled to himself.

"Come on," he called out, having already started walking left, "The pizza place is this way."

Bonnie and Chica hurried to catch up to him. Freddy had stopped outside a small building that was easy to miss. Above the door stood a faded sign that simply read "PIZZA". Chica raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure this is the place?" she asked skeptically, "This looks pretty sketchy."

Freddy laughed before entering the building, Bonnie and Chica following close behind him. The walked into a small lobby with a flight of stairs leading downward. They followed him downstairs to what appeared to be a basement door with a light coming from inside. However, when Freddy opened the door, Bonnie and Chica were amazed. Freddy was right; the inside of the building was actually quite nice. Right inside the room was a counter, presumably to order. It was a buffet style restaurant with booths lining the walls and tables neatly organized in rows. The restaurant could easily seat 100 people. The buffet itself was against the back wall, although only two people stood in line now: an Anthro lion and human boy were talking as they got their pizza.

Chica had glanced up at the menu prices before wincing. A buffet was $6 dollars; she and her brother only had a $5 each.

"Hi, can I get you a table?" The waitress, an Anthro gazelle, asked the three of them.

"Yes, 3 buffets, please. These two are with me." Freddy replied, pulling out his wallet.

Bonnie's ears drooped, and Chica tapped her foot nervously; they hated getting handouts.

"Freddy, you don't have to do that." Bonnie muttered unconvincingly into Freddy's ear.

Freddy, however, just smiled and turned around.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to." Freddy stated simply. "Because you guys are my friends."

"Thanks, Freddy." Bonnie responded, also smiling slightly. Chica still seemed a bit unhappy, but was in no position to argue; until she and Bonnie got jobs, they wouldn't be able to eat out very often.

The waitress brought them to a table and placed three glasses of water on the table, and then the trio walked over to the now empty buffet line. Still hungry from not eating for several hours, Freddy went first, grabbing a plate and placing 6 slices of pepperoni in it. He shrugged at Bonnie and Chica before walking back to the table. Bonnie grabbed two slices of sausage, and Chica grabbed two slices of cheese.

When the twins got back to the table, Freddy had already eaten half of his pizza. The three of them sat in the pizzeria and talked for the next hour or so, sharing stories about high school or summer camps or talking about classes and what clubs they want to join. As they talked and laughed, Freddy thought about how he was happy to finally have two close friends that liked him for who he was, not what his father or grandfather had done. Chica was glad to not be worried about her younger brother being picked on by him, and was pleasantly surprised that Freddy didn't seem at all taken aback by her dry sense of humor and somewhat abrasive personality. In fact, he seemed relieved that they weren't practically worshipping him.

Bonnie, however, had been distracted by something ever since he had left his dorm. He tried to stay involved in the conversation as best he could, but it usually just ended up being Freddy and Chica. This was because the image of a certain red fox kept cropping up in Bonnie's mind, and he couldn't figure out why.

* * *

After his run, Foxy came back to his (fortunately) empty dorm and unpacked. All of his clothes were neatly organized in his suitcase, so this only took about 15 minutes. Foxy then removed his shorts an wrapped a towel around his waist before walking down the hall to the shower, careful to remember his dorm key.

As Foxy stood under the warm water, he couldn't help but think about the rabbit from earlier. Bonnie, that was his name. For some reason the canine couldn't quite place, Foxy kept thinking about the rabbit during his run.

_You probably just feel guilty for knocking him over._ He thought to himself. _Just apologize again next time you see him._

Satisfied with his decision, Foxy turned off the water before drying himself off and returning to his room. He hung the towel up on the hook by the door before turning off the light and climbing in to bed, falling asleep almost immediately.

* * *

It was already dark by the time Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica returned to the dorms. They all stopped at the walkway between Scott and Cawthon.

"This was really fun." Chica began as she turned to Scott. "We should do this again sometime."

"Agreed. We'll see you tomorrow." Freddy replied as he and Bonnie walked back towards Cawthon.

"See you tomorrow, Bon Bon." Chica called out as she entered her building. She walked down the hall to her room and opened her door only to see her roommate, whom she hadn't met yet.

Her roommate was, coincidentally enough, also an Anthro yellow chicken. However, unlike Chica and her fairly muscular form, she was extremely skinny, and was wearing an oversized t-shirt and athletic shorts. She was also about a foot shorter than Chica. As soon as she saw Chica, she shrieked with joy and rushed over to embrace her in a tight hug.

"Oh my gosh, hi!" she squealed, "You must be Francisca. I'm Chelsea, but I'm sure you already knew that from the paper on the door. I'll bet you read it, you're probably really smart, a lot smarter than me at least!"

The smaller bird started giggling, still holding Chica in a death grip.

"Just Chica will do," responded the larger bird, trying to push Chelsea off of her. Chelsea eventually let go, but immediately pulled Chica into her seat, and begged the taller chicken to be her model for a new makeup she wanted to try. Chica, wanting nothing to do with any of this, faked a yawn.

"You know, I'm actually really tired," Chica lied, "I'm gonna go to bed. Maybe some other tim."

She quickly walked over to turn off the light and climbed into bed, not even bothering to change out of her clothes. Chelsea unfortunately saw this as an invitation to go on a rant about the latest fashion something-or-other, forcing Chica to put her headphones in just in an attempt to drown out the noise.

Chica didn't do hugs. Chica really didn't do makeup. Chica really certainly do fashion. As Chica finally started to fall asleep in spite both her clothes and the voice of her new roommate after about 45 minutes, she thought to herself.

_Well, I'm one for two today._

* * *

"See you tomorrow, Bon Bon."

Freddy looked at Bonnie, who didn't seem phased by the pet name.

"Bon Bon?" Freddy asked with a grin, raising an eyebrow.

"Never call me that," Bonnie responded is a low voice, his gaze quickly becoming serious, "Only my sister gets to call me that."

It was true. Bonnie won't even let his mom call him Bon Bon; that was a right solely reserved for his sister. When Bonnie and Chica were very young and just learning to talk, Chica had trouble saying "Bonnie", so she went with "Bon Bon" instead. However, as the twins grew older, this was usually the name Chica used when comforting her brother, usually after either bullies in school or their father had said or done something to upset him. However, sometimes, she simply used it in lieu of "Bonnie", and Bonnie didn't really think anything of it.

When Freddy and Bonnie got back to their room, Bonnie saw a photo on Freddy's desk that he hadn't noticed before. It was of a female dark brown Anthro bear, similar to Freddy. She was wearing a red pants suit and sitting in a blue armchair while she smiled at the camera.

"Freddy, who is that photo of?" Bonnie asked, gesturing towards the photo.

Freddy immediately got a somber expression on his face as he walked over to the photo and picked it up.

"It's my mom," he answered as he inspected the photo, "She died of cancer about two years ago."

Bonnie felt a pang of guilt.

"I'm so sorry," Bonnie began slowly, "I didn't mean to bring it up."

"It's OK," Freddy replied as he set the photo down, "I still have my dad, and he's good to me. He always taught me to look for the best in people, not to focus on their flaws. You actually just missed him when you arrived. I think you'd like him."

Freddy and Bonnie both undressed and Bonnie hit the light switch. As they climbed into their respective beds, Bonnie heard Freddy's voice.

"If you don't mind me asking, what about your parents?" The bear asked.

"Well," Bonnie began, "My mom is sweet, kind, caring, and always makes time for me and Chica. She taught me to love others and not to judge or hate. She taught me how to forgive. She was always around more than our dad, so we naturally got attached to her. She has always supported us and encouraged us to succeed in whatever way we could. She wanted us to be our own people, and for us to be happy. As for my dad?"

Freddy heard Bonnie shift in is bed before quietly finishing.

"We don't get along."

* * *

**Author's Note: ****Hey guys, sorry for the late update. I got absolutely slammed with school this week (I am in college by the way). I also suffered from some some writer's block this week; basically, I have the full, overarching story arc planned out, as well as several key events and plot points. However, I was sort of at a loss on how to get from point A to point B for some of these points until the past day or so. Fortunately, I solidified a lot of these decisions yesterday, and I can use this weekend to try to get ahead so that updates will be more periodic for the next week or so. Anyway, you guys really seem to be enjoying the story so far! Thank you so much for all of your follows, favorites, and reviews. I do read all of the reviews even if I don't respond, so please continue to leave them. It really does help me stay motivated to keep writing.**

**Anyway, just clarifying a few more things:**

**1) Ted is Toy Freddy, and Chelsea is Toy Chica. They don't have the "toy cheeks" that they do in the game, but they are much smaller in size than the others.**

**2) Toy Bonnie, Mike Schmidt, the Puppet, and all of the other canon characters will be present in the story, although the focus will be on the main Fazgang.**

**3) All Anthros are technically from the same species, which is different than humans. For example, humans are _homo sapiens_, while Anthros are _homo anthro_. They kinda descended from "actual" animals, and kinda from humans.**

**4) Anthros always sleep naked in this universe. This isn't a sexual thing, it ties into them still being animalistic. Hence why Chica had trouble falling asleep while still wearing her clothes.**

**5) T****his is the last chapter of the "introduction". These first 4 chapters all took place over the course of a single afternoon and evening, but future chapters will move much faster now that I've established the characters and universe a little bit more thoroughly.**

**Long Author's Note is long. Anyway, until next time!**


	5. Cogs in a Machine

_It was cold._

_That was the first thing Bonnie noticed as he stood at the end of the dark corridor. He appeared to be underground, and the stone walls were lined with small torches that provided just enough light to see a few feet in front of him. He looked to his left and right to see Chica and Freddy standing next to him. However, they appeared not to notice him, instead staring down the hallway. Bonnie also looked into the darkness to see two figures wearing white masks carrying what appeared to be a large, rattling cage; whatever was inside wanted out._

_Chica gasped upon seeing the cage, while Freddy let out a low growl, bearing his fists. However, just as Bonnie tried to get a better look at it, his vision filled with static and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He collapsed and clutched his chest as the pain worsened, almost as if he was being stabbed._

Bonnie's eyes shot open when he heard a loud noise. He sat up abruptly, his purple fur drenched in sweat, and looked to his left to see Freddy climbing down from his bed in the darkness and turning off the alarm of his phone, which was charging on his desk.

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief before lying back down. It was Monday morning, and classes started that day. Freddy's first class on Mondays and Wednesdays started at 8, but Bonnie's started at 10, so Bonnie could go back to sleep for a couple more hours. The rabbit almost immediately fell back asleep when his head hit the pillow, having already forgotten about his dream.

* * *

About an hour later, Freddy entered the room where his first class was being held. He stood at the top of a lecture hall that seated about 150 people. The bear looked around the room to see that it was surprisingly full for such an early class; there were maybe 10 empty seats. Freddy walked down the stairs and took a seat near the front.

Almost immediately after Freddy sat down, a door at the front of the room opened and a somewhat short human in his early 30s walked into the room. He actually reminded Freddy a little bit of Bonnie. He had short, jet black hair and wore a light blue suit. The man set his briefcase down on the table in front of the room before he looked up at the class and began to speak.

"Good morning, class," he began in a surprisingly deep voice for how small he was. "Welcome to Engineering 101. My name is Dr. Michael Schmidt, and I will be your professor for this class."

Dr. Schmidt then pulled a large stack of papers out of his briefcase and began walking around the room, passing them down each row.

"I will be blunt with you; most of you will not pass this course." He continued. Freddy noticed a hint of a British accent. "This is the prerequisite for admittance into any engineering major here at Fazbear University, and it should not be taken lightly. I am passing out your syllabus now, which contains the dates of the midterm and final; these are your only two grades for this class, and they each make up half of your overall grade. Anyone who scores below an 80 on the midterm will be dropped from the course immediately. You must receive at least a 75 in this course in order to continue in this major. If you feel that you will be unable to do this, then I recommend you leave now and drop this course; it will save both you and me a lot of time and work. Any questions?"

The professor had reached the front and looked up. Silence hung in the room for a few seconds until about 2/3 of the class stood up and shuffled out of the room. After the last person had closed the door behind him, Dr. Schmidt smiled as he began speaking again.

"Well, that takes care of that." The professor spoke now in a much softer, lighter voice. "Those of you in the back, go ahead and fill in to the front. I really don't like to shout."

The students in the back of the class hesitantly stood up, caught off-guard by the professor's sudden change in demeanor. As they were moving, Dr. Schmidt made his way over to the computer sitting on the desk and turned it on. A blue screen was suddenly projected onto the white board before changing to a video. It was of a machine full of dozens of differently shaped and sized gears that were all moving in unison.

"Does anyone know what this is?" Dr. Schmidt asked the class once everyone had sat down. "Come on now, don't be shy."

He was met with silence before seeing a brown paw raise near the front of the room.

"It's a clock." Freddy answered. He immediately knew what it was of as soon as he saw it, being very familiar with the inner workings of a clock. He had actually been grounded once when he was a cub for dismantling his parents' antique grandfather clock; he wanted to see how it worked.

"Correct!" Dr. Schmidt shouted, slightly startling the class. "And I am showing you this video in order to prove a point. Each small cog within this machine is immensely important. A timepiece is one of the most intricate and complex pieces of machinery in today's society, and if even one of those gears doesn't do its job precisely as it should, then the machine is rendered useless."

He then pushed a button on the computer and one cog vanished from the clock. Almost immediately the remaining cogs stopped moving before they collapsed to the bottom of the screen, leaving a pile of broken, useless cogs.

"This holds true for any of the machines we will be studying this semester. No matter how complex they seem, they are made up of smaller parts. Each individual component must perform its assigned function perfectly, as there is no margin of error. As an engineer, you cannot underestimate the importance of the individual."

Freddy thought about what his professor said. Cogs in a machine must perform their function perfectly, or everything else around it falls apart.

_What's my function, then?_ Freddy wondered to himself as he stared at the broken clock.

* * *

Bonnie had arrived to his first class, English 101, a little bit early, not being entirely sure where it was. Instead of a typical lecture hall, it was a large classroom with square tables set up for groups of 4. He scanned the room before spotting a table with 2 empty seats. The two current occupants were a light blue rabbit reading from a notebook and a blond human boy who had a scowl on his face and was staring at the floor.

"Excuse me," Bonnie asked as he walked over to the table, "Can I sit here?"

The human boy nodded silently, still not making eye contact as Bonnie sat down. Bonnie was trying to figure out why the boy was so upset before he suddenly heard another voice.

"I'm Brad," the blue rabbit said, looking up and introducing himself. Bonnie used this opportunity to study the blue rabbit's features more closely. He had extremely bright green eyes and a pair of buck-teeth, and was wearing khaki's and a blue dress shirt that matched his fur with a red bow tie. His fur was extremely well groomed, particularly on his face. And while Bonnie couldn't be positive without a closer look, Brad appeared to be wearing make up.

"Bonnie," the purple rabbit replied, now slightly self-conscious about his own disheveled appearance. Even though this happened a lot, Bonnie would still sometimes become insecure whenever he met people with much more money than him. Freddy was an exception, being genuinely friendly when they first met (being a bit insecure himself for the opposite reason). Brad, on the other hand, seemed to have an "I'm-better-than-you-and-I-know-it" air about him.

Bonnie's suspicions were confirmed when his blue counterpart began speaking again.

"Bonnie? Isn't that a girl's name?" Brad asked with a smirk.

Bonnie's ears drooped as he was reminded of the countless times when other students (or teachers) made fun of him for his name.

"Well," the purple rabbit began, still embarrassed, "it's not my full name. My legal name is Boniface Bunny, but since no one can ever spell or pronounce it correctly, I just go by Bonnie instead."

"Yeah, whatever," Brad replied, looking down at his carefully filed fingernails, "and this guy still won't even talk to me."

Brad gestured to the human, who was still acting like the two rabbits weren't even there.

_Gee, I wonder why._ Bonnie thought as the Brad yawned, clearly having lost interest in the conversation.

Bonnie looked around after a few minutes of awkward silence, desperately looking for a new seat. He saw none, but upon viewing the door, he saw Foxy of all people walk in. The fox looked around for a few seconds before noticing Bonnie table, which still had one empty seat. His tail started wagging as he quickly walked over and sat down.

"Hey, Bonnie, good to see you again." Foxy said as he pulled a notebook out of his backpack.

"Y-yeah, you too, Foxy." Bonnie replied, stuttering slightly, although no one else at the table seemed to notice, as the human boy was still staring straight forward, acting as if the others weren't even there, and Brad was busy checking his face in a small mirror.

"Anyway," Foxy continued, "Sorry again about knocking you over the other day."

"Oh, uh, it's OK." Bonnie was still having trouble articulating words for some reason, "Yeah, um, no hard feelings, I guess."

_What is wrong with you, Bonnie?_ he thought to himself. _What is it about this guy that makes you so nervous?_

Foxy then turned to the Brad.

"Sorry, I don't think we've met," the canine began, "I'm Foxy."

Brad continued looking in the mirror for a few seconds before quickly snapping it shut and facing the fox. His expression immediately went from one of extreme boredom to great interest. He began surveying the fox in great detail as he spoke.

"I'm Brad," the blue rabbit responded as he looked at Foxy's mouth, inspecting his teeth.

Foxy was just about to ask what Brad was doing, when the human boy suddenly stood up and walked out of the class, muttering something under his breath. Foxy and Brad didn't hear him, but Bonnie was able to make out just a few words.

_"...bunch of filthy furries..."_

Bonnie winced. Calling an Anthro a "furry" was extremely offensive and degrading, something that Bonnie had experienced in his limited contact with humans prior to college. Bonnie and Chica grew up in a poor part of their hometown town that was almost entirely Anthros, while the richer part was mostly humans who had grown up in the Spring Trap era, when Anthros weren't even seen as people. Whenever they had to go into the human part of town for any reason, they were met with blatant specism from these older humans.

Bonnie was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Foxy begin to speak.

"Uh, Brad," Foxy asked, thoroughly confused and a little creeped out at this point, "what are you doing?"

"Trying to see if you would be a good fit." Brad replied. He stopped his inspection, seemingly satisfied. "I'm looking for freshmen to pledge my fraternity, Tau Alpha Nu. The thing is, we have a certain image that we wish to keep that _some_ people just don't fit."

He looked over at Bonnie as he said this, as if trying to make sure Bonnie was insulted. Bonnie just rolled his eyes, more annoyed than anything.

"So Foxy," he continued, "you interested?"

"No thanks," Foxy replied curtly, "fraternities aren't really my thing."

This, of course, wasn't the whole truth, as the main reason Foxy had no interest was because he knew Ted was pledging Tau Alpha Nu, and he wanted nothing to do with that bear.

The night Foxy went to bed after his run, Ted loudly came back to the room drunk at 3 o'clock in the morning, waking Foxy by turning on the lights. He then proceeded to vomit all over the floor and pass out in his bed. This, of course, left Foxy to (once again) clean up the floor to their room in the middle of the night. Ted had even lectured Foxy for turning on the light in the morning because he was so hungover. Needless to say, Foxy intended on staying far away from his roommate as possible.

"We'll see," Brad responded as he gave the fox a smug look.

* * *

After their English class ended, Foxy and Bonnie left as quickly as possible to get away from Brad. The blue rabbit had spent nearly the entire class bragging about himself and his fraternity, which frustrated Bonnie and Foxy to no end. As soon as they were out of earshot, Bonnie began venting.

"Well, that was, uh, strange," the rabbit began nervously, looking behind him to be sure they weren't followed.

"Yeah, I don't know what he wants with me, but I don't really think I want to." Foxy replied apprehensively as they walked through the double doors that led outside and down the steps at the entrance before pausing for a moment. Foxy then turned and spoke to Bonnie, whose ears perked up at the sound of Foxy's now much calmer voice.

"So anyway," the fox began, not even noticing his tail starting to wag once again as he spoke, "where are you headed now?"

"Lunch," Bonnie replied. He realized that he was sweating, but assumed it was because of the summer heat. "I'm supposed to meet my sister, she just got off work. Care to join us?"

"I can't," Foxy replied, ears drooping slightly, "I have another class now. But I'll see you later."

As Foxy walked away, Bonnie stood at the bottom of the stairs for a moment before walking off himself, unaware of the blue rabbit that had been watching him and Foxy from the building entrance.

* * *

Chica collapsed into her seat in the dining hall with a sigh as she looked up to see her brother approach her table.

"You look like you haven't slept in days, what happened?" Bonnie asked as he sat down.

Chica yawned again before answering.

"Well," she began to rant, "my oh-so-friendly roommate decided that last night at 11 was the time to call her 'bestest friend forever in the whole wide world' and talk on the phone for _5 hours. _Who talks on the phone until 4 am?_"_

Bonnie took a bite of his burger as he listened, clearly entertained. He always enjoyed listening to Chica's rants about things and people (mostly people) that got on her nerves. Chica didn't usually rant to their mother, as Bella would usually reply with a sermon to not be so negative. Charles was completely out of the question, not to mention the subject of many such rants, so Bonnie was left as the sole audience member to these rants.

"What's worse is that I had to wake up at 5 this morning to go to work, so I got exactly 1 hour of sleep last night. Of course, once I got there, I had to deal with some mother complaining to me that we "scammed" her because we had apparently sold her a "broken" baseball glove a month ago. Well, guess what, she bought her right-handed son a left-handed glove, and was too stupid to realize it for whole month. Like do you have nothing better to do at 7 am on a Monday morning?"

The day after she, Bonnie, and Freddy went out for pizza, Chica went back to the sporting goods store to apply for a job. The only shifts they had available were opening to noon on Mondays through Thursdays. This meant Chica had to be at work at 6 am on these mornings, where she stayed for 6 hours. She wasn't at all happy about this arrangement, but her wings were tied; she had to pay for school. Bonnie, on the other hand, had gotten a job at the pizza place they had eaten at. He only worked 2 nights a week, but was hoping to make enough money from tips to offset the fewer hours.

As Chica continued to go on about her roommate and customers, Bonnie took a moment to think about how his life had changed in the past few days.

Just 3 days earlier, he was living in his parents' house and was in a state of constant anxiety, wondering when his father's next outburst would be. The only thing he could hope for was that he wasn't on the receiving end. Bonnie spent most of time up in his bedroom, knowing that the best way to avoid these confrontations was to isolate himself. Now, he felt free. Free to play his guitar without waiting for Charles to leave the house. Free to make friends with whomever he wanted. Free to be himself, and not just try in vain to satisfy his father.

After the siblings finished their lunch, they got up and walked out of the dining hall. Bonnie headed south to his next class, while Chica headed north back to Scott; she was hoping to actually get some sleep before her next class after the past 12 hours she had.

* * *

Thursday morning, Foxy was awoken by the sound of his alarm, followed by Ted sleepily demanding that he "turn that stupid thing off". Foxy just groaned as he got out of bed and shut off the alarm before putting on a pair of shorts to walk down the hall to brush his teeth.

However, as soon as he opened the door to his room, he was met with an extremely unpleasant sight: Brad was standing at the doorway with a basket of laundry. Foxy tried to pass him without saying anything, but the blue rabbit blocked his way.

"What are you doing here at 9 in the morning, Brad?" Foxy asked with a yawn as he continued to try to leave his room.

"Waiting for Ted. He's supposed to do my laundry for me." Brad replied, still not budging from his spot. "Although, I'm glad you're here. Have you reconsidered my offer? We have another party Friday night if you're interested."

Foxy suddenly growled and pushed past Brad, startling the rabbit; Brad hadn't expected Foxy to respond so aggressively, not knowing how short a temper the red fox had. Brad stood in shock for a moment smiling to himself as Foxy angrily walked down the hall.

_Yeah, he'll do nicely._ The blue rabbit thought to himself before entering Ted's room, throwing his dirty clothes on top of him to wake him up.

* * *

Later that afternoon, when Foxy arrived in his Biology 101 class, he looked around to see Bonnie sitting with Freddy and Chica at a table in the corner of the room. He hurried over to join them, his tail wagging as he did so. Having been to the class once before on Tuesday, the four had already had a chance to meet each other. Bonnie had tried to introduce Foxy to the others, but couldn't even get through one sentence without fumbling over his own words.

_"Foxy, th-this is my, uh, roommate F-f-freddy, and my s-sister, um, uh, Chica."_

This had immediately caught Chica's attention; sure, Bonnie wasn't exactly super comfortable in unfamiliar social situations, but he definitely never had a stutter. She decided to watch her brother closely, wanting to figure out what was up. She had a reputation for being somewhat nosy in matters like this, but she didn't really care. Freddy had also thought it strange but didn't think much of it; after all, he hadn't even known the rabbit for a week, maybe he was always like this meeting new people.

As soon as Foxy sat down, their professor, Dr. Nero, walked into the room. He was a tall, imposing Anthro black rabbit and wore a completely black suit. Foxy breathed a sigh of relief; Dr. Nero had a very strict attendance policy; being late by just a few seconds would result in the loss of a letter grade. Missing the class even once meant being dropped, no questions asked. Silence fell as soon as the rabbit entered the room.

"Good afternoon, class," the rabbit began as he wrote on the board, "I'm going to start class by giving you all your first homework assignment."

He then turned around to face the class, with the word "EVOLUTION" written in large capital letters on the chalkboard.

"As those of you who actually read the syllabus may know, the first topic I will be covering in this course is the evolution of our species'. And yes, I am referring to both Anthros and humans. As you should be well aware, Fazbear University was founded with Anthro-human coexistence in mind. As such, the university thinks that understanding our species' genetic and biological similarities and differences is the first step to this process. I disagree."

Dr. Nero suddenly slammed his fist on the desk in front him, causing half the class to jump in their seats.

"This college's founders were a bunch of idealistic morons who thought that over 3 decades of persecution and violence can be fixed by reading a few textbooks. I lost my sister in an anti-Anthro riot that occurred in our neighborhood when I was 5, and those bastards think that 'understanding out common roots' will fix everything!"

Freddy gritted his teeth; he didn't exactly like being compared to his grandfather, but he still respected him. As such, he didn't take kindly to this professor calling him an "idealistic moron".

"Nonetheless," the professor continued with a sigh, "my hands are tied; by agreeing to teach this class, I agree to presenting the material in a way the University finds 'appropriate', now matter how ignorant it actually is. Anyway, your first homework assignment will be to research the evolution of humans and Anthros, and to write a paper on it. You should focus on the following question: What caused Anthros take such a different evolutionary tract compared to humans, yet still be so genetically similar? I will collect these on Tuesday. Any questions?"

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Satisfied, Dr. Nero turned on the projector and began his lecture.

Bonnie and Chica looked at each other nervously; something about the black rabbit seemed strangely familiar, yet they could quite place it. They were both fairly positive that they had ever seen him before, yet something about him professor definitely rang a bell.

Foxy, meanwhile, seemed rather taken aback by the professor's stance on human-Anthro relations. Foxy had never really been exposed to or even understood specism before now; however, upon seeing how the black rabbit felt that human-Anthro coexistence was impossible, having grown up in the Spring Trap era, the fox was starting to gain some perspective.

Freddy suddenly thought of his first engineering class; did Dr. Nero just see human-Anthro society as a broken clock? Had one single malfunction damaged the entire machine beyond repair?

Freddy gulped as he began taking notes. He certainly hoped not.


	6. Socks

Freddy slowly opened his eyes to see light coming through the window. He checked the clock he had mounted on the wall by his bed: 10:43. He had a slight moment of panic, thinking he had overslept and missed class, before breathing a sigh of relief when he remembered what day it was: it was Friday. Classes didn't meet on Fridays at Fazbear University; instead, students attended a seminar specifically for their major, and Engineering Majors didn't meet until late in the afternoon. Despite normally being a morning person, Freddy had recently grown to enjoy sleeping in when he could after a month of early classes and late nights doing homework. However, just as he was about to fall asleep again, he heard a knock at his door. He groaned in annoyance as he got out of bed.

He walked over to the door and opened it to see that is was Chica.

"Oh, hey Freddy," she began, "I was wondering if-"

She stopped speaking suddenly and quickly turned her face away, her face turning a light shade of pink.

Freddy stood there still half-asleep for a few seconds before a sudden realization came crashing down on him: he hadn't put on any clothes before opening the door. Freddy began blushing himself when he realized that he was completely naked in front of his roommate's sister.

The two stood for what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence before Chica coughed nervously and was the first to speak.

"Uh, well, anyway," she began, her face now completely red, "Could you, um, give these to Bonnie? Yeah, I uh, got them for free at the store I, um_, _work at, and I know he's, uh, you know, running low. So if you could just-"

The chicken quickly handed Freddy a pack of new white socks, desperately trying to avoid eye contact (or looking down).

Freddy nodded silently before taking the pack from Chica and slowly closing and locking the door. Since going back to sleep was no longer an option thanks to the adrenaline rush, he decided to get dressed, hoping to prevent a similar incident within the next few minutes. Freddy went to open his drawer when he realized that he was still holding the socks. He hastily tossed them onto Bonnie's desk before quickly throwing on some clothes and opening his computer to work on a Physics assignment.

As soon as she heard the lock click, Chica practically sprinted towards the stairwell at the end of the empty hall. Fortunately, no one else had seen what had just happened...

...or so she thought. At the opposite end of the hallway, a smaller yellow chicken let out a giggle before slipping through the elevator doors just as they closed.

* * *

Bonnie, meanwhile, had decided to go to the main library; he normally had Fridays off since he was still undeclared, but he heard that there was a major fair today. As soon as the rabbit entered the atrium, he saw a sign in the middle of the room.

_Major Fair - 2nd Floor_

_Presenting: Dr. Fritz Smith_

As Bonnie climbed the stairs, his ears drooped as he was suddenly reminded of the last time he was here; it was during Orientation, and his father had publicly berated him for taking too long during registration. However, the rabbit's mood instantly brightened upon reaching the top of the stairs and seeing Foxy standing by one of the booths, reading a pamphlet.

Being with Foxy always seemed to cheer Bonnie up. Bonnie wasn't quite sure what it was about the fox, but as the two began to hang out more and more over the past few weeks, Bonnie just felt a sense of ease and comfort whenever he was around him. However, he still sometimes got a little nervous around him, almost as though there was a secret Bonnie was trying to hide.

This is what confused Bonnie so much; he had never felt this way around anyone before now: happy, yet still nervous at the same time. It wasn't even that Foxy scared him, quite the opposite. Bonnie somehow felt...safe around the fox. Sure, Chica had always been there to beat up the occasional bully, but somehow, this wasn't the same. The rabbit just shrugged it off, thinking that was what friendship normally felt like; after all, he didn't have any friends prior to college for comparison.

_Still,_ the rabbit thought to himself as he crossed the lobby, _I don't feel this way about Freddy, and he's my friend too._

Foxy, having, looked up from his pamphlet, glanced over and saw Bonnie coming up the stairs. Almost instantly, his ears perked up and his tail started wagging at the sight of him. Foxy always seemed to be calmer whenever the rabbit was around him. He never seemed to have trouble with his temper when he was with Bonnie, no matter how upset he may have been before hand. Something about how quiet and reserved the rabbit was seemed to have a calming effect on Foxy. He almost found it...cute.

_Wait, what?_

Foxy shook his head. No, that wasn't the right word. Pleasant. Yeah, that's better. He and Bonnie were good friends, and that was all.

_Wasn't it?_

Just as Bonnie approached Foxy to greet him, they heard a voice coming from a speaker in the middle of the room.

"_Uh, hello? Hello, hello. Um, if I could have everyone's attention please?"_

Bonnie and Foxy turned around to face the center of the room. Bonnie used this opportunity to survey the room a little more closely. The registration tables that had surrounded the walls during orientation had been replaced with booths representing different majors on campus; in the middle of the room stood a small podium with a microphone and speaker. Currently standing on the podium was an older human man, maybe in his 50s or 60s. He was scratching the gray hair on his head, almost as if he was uncomfortable with all of the sudden attention.

_"Oh, um, thank you," _he continued into the microphone, _"Um, first let me introduce myself, I guess. I'm Dr. Fritz Smith, Dean of Student Affairs here at Fazbear University. Uh, I was actually the guy on the phone during your, um, orientation assembly. Uh, I just wanted to take a brief moment to welcome you all here as you, uh, to try and explore what exciting career path you may choose for yourself."_

"He sounds like he's trying to read off a script but only has half the lines in front of him." Foxy leaned in and whispered into Bonnie's ear with a smirk. Bonnie chuckled as Dr. Smith continued.

_"Um, anyway, before I talk about that, I do want to mention one thing. You may remember the, um, figure, that turned the phone on during your assembly. Uh, that's our caretaker; he oversees the groundskeeping on campus, and also assists with larger functions like that. Um, you may see him around campus from time to time. Word of advice: ignore him. Yeah, there have been reports of, incidents, involving him, but nothing's confirmed, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Uh, I'll be honest, I never liked that puppet guy, but he does his job well, so we keep him around. Um, anyway, as you look around the booths, just remember to keep an open mind about this process. Uh, thank you."_

Dr. Smith turned off the microphone and walked away from the podium.

"That puppet guy did give me the creeps," Bonnie remarked as he turned to Foxy, "Anyway, have you found anything that looks interesting to you?"

"Not yet, but I only got here about 10 minutes ago," Foxy replied, "Wanna keep looking around?"

"Sure," the rabbit responded, ears perking up slightly. He was always happy to spend time with Foxy, even if it was just looking at booths. As the duo began to walk around the room, they remained unaware of the small, light brown bear who had just darted down the stairs.

* * *

Brad was sitting in his chair on his laptop when he heard the knock on his bedroom door. In spite of only being a 2nd year, he had one of the biggest bedrooms in the Tau Alpha Nu house; this was because Brad had a way of manipulating people into getting what he wants.

"Uh, Brad," a voice called from the other side, "there's some people here who say they're here to see you. The pledge, Ted, and some yellow duck. You want me to send 'em away?"

"No, they're telling the truth. Send them up." Brad answered as he closed his laptop.

About 20 seconds later, the door opened as Chelsea and Ted walked in nervously. Ted closed the door behind them.

"Ah, good, you're here," Brad began as he swiveled his chair around to face the two newcomers, "have a seat."

The blue rabbit gestured towards his bed as the bear and chicken sat down.

"So," Brad continued, lacing his fingers behind his head, "what have you guys found out? How can we get old Foxy to join us?"

Ted was the first one to speak.

"Well," the bear began, "it's been difficult to get the fox one on one. He's always hanging around with that rabbit. Bobbie, or whatever."

"Bonnie, yes," Brad muttered as he pulled out a pencil and paper and began jotting notes down. "he does seem to be close with that rabbit. Still, you live with him, it shouldn't be that hard to get him alone, should it?"

Brad raised a groomed eyebrow at the bear, who gulped in response.

"Y-yeah, well," Ted replied, "that's the thing. He's never even in the room. By the time I get back at every night, he's already asleep, and by the time I wake up in the morning, he's already gone."

"I see..." Brad muttered as he wrote some more notes down. "Let's focus on him and Bonnie, then. I assume you've at least been spying on him like I asked? Or is even that too difficult for you too handle?"

No, no, I have! I swear!" the bear blurted out defensively. "Well, it's like I said, the two are always together. I see them together in classes, in the dining hall, in the library, walking around campus. It's like the two are inseparable. And any time I try to approach them, they shoot me this dirty look before running off. I've tried chasing them a couple of times, but they're much faster than me."

Brad frowned. This was at least partially his fault, as he had left a negative impression on Bonnie the first time they had met. This had unfortunately seemed to rub off on Foxy, what with the two hanging out so much.

"It seems to me that if we can separate those two, we might have an easier shot. Foxy's smart, but impressionable. If we can get Bonnie out of the picture for just a little while, then I might have a second chance with him."

"Well, that's the other thing, it's not always the two of them." Chelsea had piped up. "Bonnie's sister and roommate hang out with them a lot, too, I've noticed."

"Ah yes, Chica," Brad said, smiling now, as he turned to the chicken, "I take it you've been getting to know her, yes?"

"If she would let me," Chelsea huffed, "that girl will barely even talk to me, she's so rude. No wonder she never had any friends in high school."

"Focus, please." Brad sighed gave Chelsea an annoyed look. Ted snickered, earning a glare from Chelsea.

"Right," Chelsea continued, slightly embarrassed, "Well, like I said, it seems that she only ever hung out with Bonnie in high school, so the two seem pretty inept at making friends. I'll bet the only reason Bonnie and Freddy are friends is that they got randomly assigned to live together. But I don't know how Foxy became a part of their little gang."

Brad nodded and continued writing. He could work with this.

"Uh, Brad?" Ted asked hesitantly, "if you don't mind me asking, why exactly is it so important that Foxy join TAN?"

"I do mind, actually, now shut up before I make you clean my bathroom again." Brad snapped as he gave Ted a death glare, causing the bear to recoil in fear.

"Anyway," Brad continued, suddenly much calmer, "it seems that the issue is this: we can't convince Foxy to join us right now since he's surrounded himself with people who won't let him go so easily.

"However," he continued as he set him notebook in his lap, "their little gang seems to only exist due to random circumstance. I would be willing to bet that their acquaintance with each other is nothing more that one of convenience that they would break off if things got tough. What we need to do is make Foxy feel vulnerable; drive a stake into the heart of their little group and he's ours. Any ideas?"

The blue rabbit sat back in his chair, looking at the bear and chicken in front of him expectantly. Chelsea suddenly gave a sinister smile.

"Just this morning I observed a little, _incident,_ between Freddy and Chica. It seems to me that their "friendship" has the potential to become a little more than that, but that also means that it's unstable right now. Fortunately, I have certain "assets" that I can use to make sure that doesn't happen. I destroy that friendship, and the other two will have to take sides, creating a divide in their group that they can't fix. Game, set, and match."

Brad smiled as he wrote some more notes down.

"What about Bonnie?" Ted asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, "he's the one that's always around Foxy. Even if Freddy and Chica start fighting, that may not even help us."

Brad gave a mischievous smile.

"Chelsea, you handle Freddy and Chica. Ted, keep watching Foxy and tell me if his behavior changes."

The blue rabbit's smile suddenly turned dark and sinister.

"_I'll_ handle Bonnie."

* * *

A couple of days later, Chica entered a study room in the library to find Freddy, Bonnie, and Foxy were already there. The four of them had their first Biology exam on evolution that Thursday in Dr. Nero's class, and had agreed to form a study group. Bonnie was quizzing Foxy on taxonomy terms, while Freddy had his nose buried in the textbook.

As Chica passed by Freddy, she leaned down and whispered in his ear:

_"It. Never. Happened."_

Freddy nodded quickly before nervously glancing over at Bonnie and Foxy; fortunately, they didn't seem to notice, being too engrossed in their own conversation.

Once Chica sat down, Freddy began to read a section about mutation from his notes while Bonnie and Foxy listened; Chica, meanwhile, was thinking about the incident from a couple of days ago.

Chica hadn't seen any of them that weekend until now, having been working on a history paper since Thursday night. She hadn't been actively avoiding them or anything, but she still thought it might be a good idea to distance herself from Freddy for a couple of days, hoping that would be enough time to let Friday morning fall into obscurity.

It wasn't.

No, Chica could barely make eye contact with Freddy without feeling uncomfortable, and it seemed that Freddy was the same way at the moment. Fortunately, the two at least didn't have to be alone together, since Bonnie and Foxy were here. Although they seemed to be too preoccupied with each other to pay Freddy or Chica much attention.

Actually, that was something that Chica had noticed over the past couple of weeks. Her brother had been spending _a lot_ of time with Foxy. Like, more than they ever did before college and even more than Freddy, his roommate. He wouldn't even say how they met, only that they just "ran into each other" one day. Regardless, Chica wasn't concerned; she couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Bonnie so happy, so she wasn't going to question it.

Just as Freddy opened his book to a graphic of a Punnett square, Chica thought about Freddy again. Of course, Bonnie wasn't the only one who was happy to make new friends. Chica thought about the day she met Freddy; he seemed so vulnerable then, yet now he a a confident demeanor about him, as if he was in charge of his own life rather than just following orders.

_He doesn't look bad with his clothes off, either._

Wait, what?! Chica shook her head at this thought. No, no, no, Freddy was a friend. A friend whom she had happened to accidentally see naked two days ago, but a friend nonetheless. Besides, even if she was interested, which she wasn't, she certainly didn't have the time or energy for a relationship right now.

Chica sighed as she looked down at her notes. She sighed again upon reading the heading: Sexual Reproduction.

_Of course._

* * *

Thursday came and went, and with it, their first exam. Freddy felt like he aced it, while the other 3 were less than confident. However, they didn't have time to worry about it since Dr. Nero had already assigned another project; this time, a partner presentation. As the next unit was Ecology, each group of two was given a different biome to give a presentation on. Bonnie and Foxy had (naturally) decided to work together, leaving Chica to work with Freddy. Of course, both the bear and chicken were fine with this, seemingly having gotten over the incident from last week.

That evening, Chica heard a knock on her door and opened it (making sure she was fully clothed first); predictably, it was Freddy.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Freddy came in and sat down in Chelsea's chair. As he opened his backpack and pulled out his laptop, Chica's phone buzzed on her desk.

Chica checked her phone to see "New Message (1)". She swiped the screen to read it.

_Unknown Number: Outside in Scott parking lot._

Chica headed for the door before turning to Freddy.

"I ordered a pizza for us since we didn't got to dinner after class."

Freddy gave a thumbs up as Chica left the room. He sat there with his laptop in his lap before the door opened again. A much smaller yellow chicken walked in before closing the door behind her.

"You must be Freddy." the chicken introduced herself as she unbuttoned her shirt. "I'm Chelsea."

Without waiting for a response, she quickly made her way over to Freddy before leaning in close to him.

"_...and that's my chair._" she whispered in Freddy's ear before giggling and placing one wing on his leg. Freddy gulped.

"Oh, uh, I can move if you, uh, want me to." Freddy sputtered out as he felt his heart rate rise from the sudden contact.

Chelsea just giggled again as she placed her other hand on the back of Freddy's neck, making Freddy shudder.

_"Teehee, that's ok, I can just sit on you. I'll bet that brown fur is nice and comfortable."_

She slowly wrapped her legs around Freddy so that she was straddling him. Once she was in this position, she finished unbuttoning her shirt before removing it and throwing it on the floor, leaving only a bra.

_"Wow, it is soft,"_ Chelsea whispered seductively as she stroked the fur on the back of the bear's neck, _"but I'd bet I'd like it more without this shirt in the way."_

As the chicken began undoing Freddy's shirt, Freddy tried (albeit half-heartedly) to push Chelsea off of him. However, she had wrapped he legs around the chair in such a way that neither of them could get up if she didn't let them.

_"You know," _Chelsea whispered in Freddy's ear as she undid the last button of Freddy's shirt, _"I've always thought the whole 'genius' thing was super hot."_

Chelsea proceeded to pull Freddy's shirt off of his body before running her hands up and down his now bare chest. Freddy was no longer resisting at this point, instead just relaxing and letting the chicken have control.

_"Yeah, I know you're enjoying this,"_ she whispered, _"but I think I know what you might enjoy more..."_

Her voice trailed off as she then drug her wing down Freddy's chest once more before placing it on his crotch. Freddy gasped, but was quickly silenced when he felt Chelsea's lips connect with his own.

Freddy was too stunned to even react at this point. The last "date" he had been on was his junior prom, where he went with the daughter of one of his dad's business partners. Freddy didn't have a choice in the matter; the partner in question was about to sign a multi-million dollar contract with Fazbear Entertainment, and Frederick needed him in a good mood.

Just as Chelsea started unzipping Freddy's pants, the door suddenly opened and Chica walked in with the pizza.

"Sorry that took so long, the guy couldn't find the right-"

She stopped dead in her tracks when saw the scene in front of her. Freddy was immediately brought back to reality and broke the kiss with Chelsea.

"Chica!"

He pushed the smaller chicken off of him, which proved to be a mistake as Chica now had a better shot of his shirtless body and unzipped pants, as well as the position he was in.

Chica dropped the pizza after a few seconds before running out of the room. Freddy called after her, but to no avail; he quickly put his shirt back on before running after her.

Chelsea gave a satisfied smirk before picking up the pizza and placing it her desk. She picked up a slice as she pulled out her phone and sent Brad a message.

_Consider it done._

* * *

Betrayal.

That was all that Chica felt at the moment, and she couldn't understand why. Why seeing Freddy with Chelsea upset her as much as it did. Freddy was her friend, shouldn't she be happy for him? Well, maybe not, it's not like Freddy was in a relationship with her roommate or anything. Still, Chica felt hurt and jealous, which unfortunately could only mean one thing:

She had feelings for Freddy.

Questions filled Chica's mind as she ran into the woods just north of Scott and Cawthon. How long had she felt this way? She prayed to every god she could think of that it didn't start last Friday when she went to drop off Bonnie's socks. Hopefully she felt a connection with the bear on at least some emotional level, and didn't just like seeing him shirtless. Did Freddy feel the same way? Possibly, yet that seemed unlikely after what had just happened. However, one question plagued her mind more than all the others.

_What now?_

She reached a small clearing before sitting down and starting to cry. Great, now she really was a walking stereotype. Chica had always prided herself on being able to keep her emotions under control; after 18 and a half years of protecting Bonnie, the bird was pretty emotionally cold. She had a reputation of being ruthless, and she liked it that way; the more distance she put between herself and others, the better it usually ended for everyone involved.

Freddy was the only person she had ever let get as close as she did, and look where it had gotten her: sobbing her eyes out in the middle of a forest over a boy, something she never thought she would see herself doing in a million years. She thought that maybe she would have been better off had she decided to sit somewhere else that first day, but felt guilty even thinking about it. Freddy was, before everything else, her friend, her first friend in as long as she could remember, and she could run away from this forever.

Chica wiped her eyes and stood up, preparing to go back and face Freddy. However, just as she was about to leave, the bird heard rustling from the other end of the clearing. Chica quickly hid behind a tree, not wanting to be seen in her current state. She peeked from behind the tree into the opposite end of the clearing to see two figures walk out of the woods.

It was Bonnie and Foxy. They were each carrying a notebook and sketchbook. Bonnie stopped moving once they reached the clearing, unaware of Chica's presence.

"Hang on, I need to sit down," Bonnie said as he sat down. Foxy took a seat next to him, setting his own notebook down.

As the fox sat down next to him, Bonnie gave a shy smile, which didn't go unnoticed by Foxy. He smiled back at the rabbit before lying on his back and reading over his notes.

It also didn't go unnoticed by Chica, who was still watching from the other side of her clearing.

_What are they doing here?_ she thought to herself before remembering that they were partners for Dr. Nero's project. They were probably doing research now.

Satisfied, Chica turned to leave before hearing Bonnie's voice again; it was closer this time.

"Hey, I'm gonna check the moss on this tree and see if we've gotten it already." Bonnie called back to Foxy, who was still lying on the ground.

Her heart stopped when she looked at the tree she was hiding behind; it was covered in moss. She panicked before looking down and finding a stick on the ground. She picked it up and threw it about 20 feet to the side. Bonnie heard it hit the ground and wandered over to see what it was.

"Hey, I think I heard a squirrel over here." Bonnie called back to Foxy as he walked away from the tree. Chica breathed a sigh of relief. Good sense would have told her to leave right then and there, but curiosity got the better of her as she stole another glance of Foxy and Bonnie.

Foxy was still lying on his back looking over at Bonnie with his hands behind his head; he had grin on his face and his tail was slowly swishing back and forth as he watched the rabbit walk around the clearing. Bonnie glanced back and smiled at him before continuing to look around. As Bonnie bent over to pick up the stick Chica has thrown, Foxy's tail began wagging slightly faster. Bonnie returned to the other side of the clearing before lying down next to Foxy with a content sigh.

Neither of them noticed Chica as she slipped away quietly.

* * *

"Your homework is to read pages 31 to 37, and we will continue our discussion of tundras on Thursday. Also, if you scored below a 70 on your exam, remember I do have an office hour right now if you wish to go over your exam."

Bonnie frowned at the exam that Dr. Nero has just passed back to him: 65. However, upon looking at the sum totals of each question, he should have earned an 83.

_Probably just a grading error, I can ask him about it now._

Bonnie hopped down the steps to talk to the professor, while Foxy, Chica, and Freddy left the room through a doorway in the back. Once they reached the lobby, Freddy quickly walked off, leaving Foxy and Chica alone.

"What's gotten into him?" Foxy asked after Freddy had cleared the entrance.

"No idea." Chica lied. Of course, she knew exactly what had gotten into Freddy, but decided to keep it to herself. After she returned to her room the previous Thursday, she found that Freddy (and Chelsea) had already left. Chica had tried calling him but he didn't respond, and didn't want to risk going to his room in case Bonnie was there; she needed to speak to him in private.

"Anyway," Chica began as she turned to Foxy, "how are things going with you and Bonnie?"

"Uh, fine, I guess," Foxy blushed slightly at the question as he looked at the ground.

Chica smirked; she was _definitely _on to something.

"Seems to me like things are better than 'fine'," she continued in a quieter voice, not wanting anyone else to hear, "you two seem to hang out all the time."

Chica gave a sly smile as Foxy continued to look around nervously.

"Yeah, we're just good friends, that's all." Foxy maintained defensively.

"Really?" Chica asked skeptically.

"Yes." Foxy curtly replied.

And he truly believed it. As far as he was aware, he and Bonnie really were just good friends, and he couldn't see why Chica insisted otherwise.

"Well, I've seen the look on your face when you're around him. And also how your tail always wags whenever you see him." Chica teased the fox.

"I don't get a 'look', and my tail certainly doesn't wag, ever. I'm not an animal." Foxy looked down, embarrassed.

Baby Anthros usually behaved more like their feral counterparts than adults did, and most of this behavior was instinctual and involuntary. Most Anthros outgrew habits like cleaning themselves with their tongue or wagging their tail during puberty, but for sone reason, Foxy never seemed to get over tail wagging. One day, when he was in high school, Mangle had taken him to the doctor to ask him about it, worried that it hadn't already gone away. The doctor had said it was nothing to worry about, and that some Anthros have one or two feral traits from their childhood that they never really grow out of. Still, Foxy was somewhat ashamed of it, especially since he already let his feral side take him over enough as it was.

"Well, anyway," Chica replied awkwardly, clearly having struck a nerve with the tail wagging, "I'll see you later."

As she walked out of the building, Foxy sighed. In spite of denying it to Chica, he did think to himself: how did he really feel about Bonnie?

* * *

Bonnie knocked on Dr. Nero's office door, which was right next door to the lecture hall.

"Come in, it's unlocked." he heard from inside the office.

Bonnie entered and looked around. For someone as strict and seemingly organized as Dr. Nero, his office was a mess. Papers scattered the floors and books lay haphazardly on the bookshelf. Empty coffee mugs were placed randomly throughout the office and the floor.

"Ah, hello, Mr. Bunny." The older rabbit began as he looked up from his computer. "I take it you're here to discuss your exam. Could you close the door please?"

"Yes, sir." Bonnie replied as he shut the door. He heard the lock click as soon as the door was closed.

_Must be automatic._ Bonnie thought to himself as he sat down in front of Dr. Nero's desk.

"Well, I actually looked at how much each question was worth, and I think there may have been an error with my grade." Bonnie explained as he handed the black rabbit his test.

Dr. Nero raised an eyebrow, making Bonnie recoil slightly. Now that he saw his face closer, Bonnie could tell that it was definitely familiar, but, try as he might, he couldn't think of where.

"Well, let me see. Water?" Dr. Nero handed Bonnie a bottle of water that he had pulled from under his desk.

Bonnie thanked the professor before taking the bottle. The purple rabbit opened it as he took a sip while Dr. Nero looked at Bonnie's exam. The water clearly had been sitting in the heat there for a long time; it tasted like plastic, but even worse.

"Well, it seems you're right," Dr. Nero said after a few minutes. "I'll just change it in my grade book."

The professor turned to his computer again as Bonnie stood up.

"Thank you Dr. Nero." He said as he made his way over to the door. "I'll see you on Thursday."

"You're not going anywhere." Dr. Nero replied menacingly.

Almost as if on cue, Bonnie's legs gave out under him as he collapsed. Instantly, he was extremely dizzy and unable to orient himself; he could find the door even if he tried. Now on the ground, Bonnie looked at the water bottle in his hand one more time before dropping it on the ground and losing consciousness.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Wow, this chapter was hard to write. Not just because it was longer, but because there was so much in this chapter that I had to set up for the next few chapters. It also wasn't quite long enough to break up into two chapters, either, so it was hard to try and have it still be cohesive and well-paced.**

**Anyway, Hope you guys enjoy!**

**EDIT:**

**I changed the rating to M, partially for the Freddy/Chelsea scene, and partially because future chapters will deal with other dark themes (abuse, violence/gore, etc.). You have been warned.**

**Also, let me clear up all character names now (that we've met), since a lot of people seem to be confused:**

_**"Fazbear University" Name - Canon Name**_

**Frederick (Freddy)**** Fazbear III - Freddy Fazbear**

**Boniface (Bonnie) Bunny - Bonnie the Bunny**

**Francisca (Chica) Chicken - Chica the Chicken**

**Fawkes (Foxy) Fox - Foxy the Pirate Fox**

**Frederick Fazbear Sr. (Grandpa Goldie) - Golden Freddy/Fredbear**

**Theodore (Ted) Ursine - Toy Freddy**

**Bradley (Brad) Lago - Toy Bonnie**

**Chelsea Gall - Toy Chica**

**Mangle Canid (Aunt Mangle) - Mangle/Toy Foxy (also, Mangle is a female in this story, but male in my head canon of the game)**

**The Caretaker - The Puppet**

**Dr. Nero - Shadow Bonnie**

**Dr. Schmidt - Mike Schmidt**

**Dr. Smith - Fritz Smith/Phone Guy (they are one and the same in my head canon for the game)**

**President Vincent Price - Purple Guy (different person than the three night guards you play as in FNAF 1 and 2)**

**General Spring - Springtrap/Spring Bonnie**

**ALL other characters we've seen thus far (i.e. all of their parents) are my OCs for this story.**

**See you next chapter (hopefully in the next few days)!**

**EDIT2:**

**Thank you again for all of the follows, favorites, and reviews! I'm glad to know so many people are enjoying this story. Speaking of reviews, it really does make my day when I see that someone has taken the time to write just a few words about my story, so I do really appreciate everyone who has left a review. My only request: if you have a question, please sign in/make an account before asking so I can respond to you individually, since I can't reply to guest reviews. Thank you!**


	7. Ghosts from the Past

Freddy smiled as he walked outside and smelled the crisp, autumn air; fall was his favorite season of the year. It was the beginning of October, and it was finally starting to get cooler outside after a month of school. Having a fairly thick fur coat already, even for a bear, Freddy enjoyed finally not having to worry about being covered in sweat as he walked across the now red and gold campus.

Still, something was bothering him: he hadn't seen Bonnie in 2 days. The rabbit hadn't come back to their room after class on Tuesday, and the bear hadn't seen him since. Freddy had assumed his roommate had worked late when he didn't come back that evening, but he was still gone when Freddy woke up in the morning. When Freddy went to the pizza place the next day to ask, the manager said that he hadn't come in for his shift the day before, which was very unlike him.

Freddy thought he was probably overreacting; after all, it wasn't uncommon for college students to not sleep in their rooms. The bear had a sudden thought: had Bonnie been with a girl the past couple of days? Possibly, it would explain his absence, and certain "activities" may have caused him to "forget" about going to class or work.

Freddy chuckled at the thought. Yeah, he was probably worrying about nothing.

* * *

Bonnie slowly regained consciousness to find himself bound to a chair. He tried looking around, but saw only darkness; he was wearing a blindfold. He tried calling out but somebody had gagged him with a piece of tape over is mouth. As the rabbit listened around with his long, purple ears, he heard only a soft, mechanical hum as well as the occasional water droplet. A pungent odor filled his nostrils, but he couldn't place what it was.

Bonnie began to panic. He tried to pull free from the chair, but this proved to be a mistake as he only managed to knock the chair over with him still tied to it. His head collided with the ground with a loud _*thud*_ when he fell, and he felt a pool of thick, warm liquid start to cover the fur on his head.

Bonnie felt tears form in in his eyes as he lay there on the ground, the pain in his head worsening with each heartbeat. He had no idea where he was, only that he was being held prisoner somewhere. The purple rabbit thought desperately back to the last thing he could remember before waking up in this... place.

He had gone to see Dr. Nero after class to talk about his exam. However, everything went fuzzy just as he was about to leave. Bonnie suddenly felt a plastic taste in his mouth before remembering the water bottle Dr. Nero had given him; it must have been drugged.

But why? Why had Dr. Nero drugged him and taken him here? What did Bonnie have that Dr. Nero needed so badly that he had to kidnap him?

Bonnie was snapped out of this thoughts when he heard footsteps begin to approach him. He desperately squirmed to try to get free, but to no avail. Bonnie suddenly felt himself being forcibly lifted back up into a seated position before having the blindfold violently ripped off of his face.

He was face to face with Dr. Nero, who was staring at Bonnie with a look of absolute fury. He stared into the younger rabbit's eyes for a moment before suddenly ripping the tape of off his face, making Bonnie gasp loudly.

"You idiot!" The black rabbit screamed in Bonnie face, spitting slightly, "A dead hostage doesn't do me any good, so try not take any more tumbles."

Bonnie wanted to scream, but only managed to get out a muffled whimper due to being paralyzed with fear.

"D-Dr. Nero," Bonnie eventually stuttered out, still shaking, "why are you doing this? What do you want from me?"

"Drop the 'Dr.'," the black rabbit spat out, "The jig is up, I suppose. Just 'Nero' will suffice."

Nero then began pacing back and forth, giving Bonnie an opportunity to look around where he was being held. It appeared to be an old factory that had been abandoned for quite some time. Bonnie was inside of a large, dimly-lit room filled with old machinery that had long since fallen into disrepair. The only source of light was coming from a few small windows high above where Bonnie and Nero were; it looked like it was the middle of day, where he was, but Bonnie could still barely see anything. Although, Bonnie finally figured out the nature of the odor that was all around him; it was the smell of rotting flesh.

"The thing is, I've never exactly been what one would call 'supportive' of integration," Nero began as he continued pacing, "I've seen the way humans treat us when there aren't laws protecting us, and it's not pretty. I don't think humans and Anthros can ever live in peace again, not after what happened in the 50s. As such, I don't think Fazbear University should even try to fool anyone into thinking otherwise. Of course, I've shared these opinions with the University Board, yet they continue to blow me off.

"That's where you come in," Nero had stopped pacing and approached Bonnie again, who recoiled in fear, "I feel fairly confident that with the right, _angle_, those idiots just may be able to see reason. And besides, I was ordered to get you out of the way for a few hours. Win-win."

"You're insane if you think they will listen to you after pulling this stunt," Bonnie replied defiantly, "They'll lock you up, and-"

Bonnie was cut off by Nero suddenly striking him in the face with his black paw.

"SHUT UP! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WATCH YOUR WHOLE FAMILY BE TAKEN FROM YOU BY A BUNCH OF FILTHY HUMANS, JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE DIFFERENT!"

Nero's booming voice echoed off the walls of the abandoned factory.

"The only reason these things happen to us because those humans try to fool us into thinking we could live together. But after I show them my...leverage..."

The look on the black rabbit's face suddenly turned maniacal as he stared ahead, not really at anything.

_"They won't have a choice but to listen to me."_

Nero turned and walked swiftly out of the room, leaving Bonnie alone once again. As the purple rabbit sat there in the darkness, he started to cry again, only this time, it was out of fear for his own life. Whatever Nero had gone through to make him feel the way he did about humans, it had left him extremely mentally unbalanced. In spite of Nero claiming to need to keep Bonnie alive, Bonnie didn't know what might set him off again and earn him worse than a slap in the face.

_And what did he mean, get me out of the way?_

* * *

When Freddy arrived at his Biology class, he saw a large congregation of people standing in the hallway. As he approached the room, he saw that it was locked and the lights were off. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, the bear turned around to see Foxy, who looked upset.

"Hey Freddy," the red fox began, concerned, "you haven't seen seen Bonnie recently, have you? I haven't seen him since class on Tuesday."

"Uh, no," Freddy replied, turning to face the other Anthro, "I actually haven't. He hasn't come back to our room, at least that I've been aware. I was sort of hoping you would know."

Freddy's heart sank upon seeing the fox sigh; he had never seen Foxy like this. Come to think of it, he and Chica had really never seen Foxy without Bonnie at all in the month they had known each other. They had met Foxy through Bonnie, and only ever saw the fox if all 4 of them were together.

Speaking of Chica, a loud voice suddenly came from within the mass of people standing in the hallway.

"I just got an email for Dr. Nero," Chica announced, looking at her phone, "it says: _Due to unforeseen circumstances that require my attention, class will not meet today, or until further notice. Please remember to keep working on your presentations. I will email you all again when I can resume teaching._"

This was met with a combination of cheers and groans as the crowd scattered, eventually leaving only Freddy, Chica, and Foxy.

"Well, he could have given us a _little_ more notice than this." Chica grumbled as she approached the bear and fox.

"By the way," Chica asked, looking at the two of them, "have either of you seen my brother the past couple of days?"

Her question was answered when Freddy's eyes widened with concern, while Foxy let out a little whine. Normally, Foxy would have been embarrassed by this, but he didn't really care right now. He walked over to a bench in the hallway and sat down, hanging his head. Freddy and Chica exchanged a glance before following him.

"Look, it's probably nothing to worry about," Freddy unconvincingly tried to reassure Foxy, "there's no need to jump to conclusions."

"How do you know?!" Foxy suddenly snapped at Freddy, startling the bear, "What makes you so sure that he's not hurt somewhere, or...or..."

Foxy's voice started to crack as he said this, though his yellow eyes showed a fury that Freddy had never seen before. Foxy bared his fangs and looked like he was about to shout at Freddy again. However, just before Foxy could continue, Chica calmly placed a wing on Foxy shoulder, causing him to quickly turn his head to face her.

"Look, Foxy," she began calmly as she sat down next to him, "we're all concerned about Bonnie, but Freddy's right; panicking won't help anything. Trust me, he's my own brother, I want him to be safe more than anyone."

Foxy sighed as he put his head in his red paws. Chica was right, but that certainly didn't make him feel any less worried.

Freddy, meanwhile was still stunned by Foxy's sudden outburst. The fox always seemed to have such a calm demeanor, but now he seemed short-tempered and angry. Freddy didn't even think he'd heard him shout before.

_Is this what he's like when he's not around Bonnie?_

However, at that moment, Freddy felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out to see "New Messages (1)".

_Bonnie: hey freddy i havent been around the past few days because im gonna be out of town til probably next week sometime. its pretty personal so please dont ask me where. thx_

"Hey guys, look at this." Freddy showed Chica and Foxy his phone, "See? He's fine, he just didn't want to say where he was going since it's apparently super personal. We can ask him when he gets back."

Foxy sighed as he read the message.

"I would have thought he would have told one of us before now, at least." Foxy muttered as he walked away sadly with his tail between his legs, his canine ears still drooping.

As soon as Foxy was out of earshot, Freddy turned to Chica, who was still sitting on the bench, and began to speak softly.

"I've never seen Foxy like this." the bear began slowly, "He's usually so happy and and fun to be around, but just now he went from worried to angry to sad. And all because Bonnie's missing."

"I know." Chica replied uneasily, "Also, that text wasn't from Bonnie. Bonnie always makes a point to use proper grammar and punctuation in his texts. He usually re-reads them 2-3 times before sending. Someone has his phone and doesn't want us to know where he is."

Freddy gulped as he re-read the poorly typed message on his phone.

"Should we call the police?" Freddy asked. "Or file a missing persons report?"

"No, not yet," Chica replied. "If we get the police involved, then we get our parents involved, and I'd rather avoid that."

"Why?!" Freddy asked incredulously, "If Bonnie really is in danger, should your parents be the first to know?"

"You don't know my parents, Freddy!" Chica replied angrily, "Our mom would be worried sick, and she wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. Our dad could react in one of two ways: either he blows it off, upsetting our mom even more, or he starts to worry too and starts drinking. And I can't put my mom through that again!"

Chica's purple eyes became distant as she gazed at the ground. Charles was a recovering alcoholic. He had been "clean" for about a year and half, but still relapsed every once in a while whenever work or something else caused him a lot of stress. In spite of how the rooster treated his son, he would almost surely worry if he heard that he was missing. The last time Charles had too much to drink, Bonnie and Chica were juniors in high school; he had smashed the windows in their living room because Bonnie missed his curfew on prom night by 30 minutes, and Charles was afraid something had happened to him. Chica and Bella had tried to calm her father down, but the resulting scuffle gave Chica a black eye. She had told everyone at school she slipped and fell down playing softball; in spite of how their father could get, he was the breadwinner of the family, and they too poor as it was to risk him going to prison.

Chica began to cry (for the second time in a week) before turning back to Freddy.

"I'm scared, Freddy," she choked out, "I'm scared for my brother, but I feel so helpless and alone. No matter what I do, someone will get hurt. I just don't know what to do."

Freddy hesitated before sitting down next to Chica and putting his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. Fortunately, the hallway they were in was still empty, giving them some privacy. Freddy was slightly taken aback at Chica's sudden breakdown; he had never seen Chica as a cryer, seeing as how she rarely showed any emotion at all other than sarcasm. It seemed like just yesterday that they were in the opposite situation, with Chica comforting Freddy about his own insecurity. But now Freddy saw just how vulnerable and damaged Chica really was. He had heard snippets about her and Bonnie's home life from the two of them, but he never pried, not wanting to remind them of it.

"I'm scared too," Freddy spoke softly into Chica's ear a he wiped a tear from her face with his paw, "but it's like you said, panicking won't help anything. We'll think of something. I promise."

Chica sniffed again before allowing her head to rest on Freddy's shoulder.

"What about us?" Chica suddenly asked. "Are we OK?"

Freddy was silent for a moment. The truth was, he had no idea what he and Chica were. Were they friends? Something more? The events of the past 2 weeks had certainly made things confusing between the two of them. Of course, Freddy certainly didn't _mind_ the feeling of holding Chica in his arms, but he had no idea what that meant as far as his feelings for the bird. Besides, he had no idea if she felt the same as he did, whatever that was.

However, right now, the two of them needed to stick together, for Bonnie's sake. They could define their relationship later.

"Yes," Freddy answered softly, "we are."

* * *

Bonnie was awoken by the sound of the door opening. Bonnie slowly opened his eyes to see Nero walked towards him. Bonnie closed his eyes again, bracing for the impact of another slap.

However, he instead felt the ropes that were being used to bind him to the chair loosen before falling to the ground. Bonnie opened his eyes again to see kneeling beside him, having just untied the ropes.

Bonnie attempted to stand, but instead simply fell to the ground. He felt physically weak. How long had he even been here? It had to have been at least a couple of days.

As Bonnie lay on the ground, he felt something being kicked towards him. He glanced over to see that it was a tray containing a plate with two pieces of bread, a slice of what appeared to be chicken, and a glass of water.

"Eat." Nero ordered, "I need you alive."

Bonnie thought for a second about defying the black rabbit in front of him, but his survival instincts kicked in; however long Bonnie had been here, he definitely hadn't had anything to eat or drink during that time, and he wouldn't survive much longer without any sustenance. He went for the water first, practically swallowing the whole glass in a single gulp. He then began greedily shoveling the food in his mouth, not caring how much an animal he looked like.

As soon as Bonnie finished his meal, Nero took the tray and walked back towards the door, not bothering to restrain Bonnie again. Not like it mattered, the purple rabbit was too frail to attempt escape.

"Nero," Bonnie called out weakly, "what happened to make you hate humans so much?"

Nero froze in his tracks before turning around to face his prisoner, who was still lying on the ground. He walked over and crouched next to Bonnie before speaking in a surprisingly calm voice.

"My parents were shot and killed when they were walking home from work by a couple of human teenagers. Do you know what they told the police they were doing? Hunting. He let them go without a second thought. I was 4 at the time, and my sister was barely 2. We went into foster care after that, but even then we weren't safe.

"One day, about a year later, a bunch of humans decided to drive around our neighborhood breaking into houses and attacking Anthros on sight using guns, bricks, matches, whatever they had on them. Our foster mother warned us to stay hidden while our foster father grabbed his shotgun, so we went up to our room and hid in the closet. We heard someone break down the door, and then some shouting. Then, 2 gunshots and silence."

Nero's eyes grew dark as he continued.

"We waited for about 10 minutes, thinking that they had left. Praying that, just maybe, we would be able to survive. But just as we thought they had gone, someone opened the door to our hiding place. I will never forget that face that looked at us huddling in the corner. He had greasy black hair, a scar on his right eye, and yellow teeth. He grabbed my sister and took her with him. I tried to stop him, but I was knocked out; he must have had an accomplice. When I woke up, they were gone. I was alone. I never saw my sister again."

Nero then stood up and, after wiping a single tear from his eye, turned and left the room. Bonnie watched him go before his own eyes began to droop; he was still exhausted. As he slowly lost consciousness, he realized what looked so familiar about the black rabbit.

_He looks just like me._

* * *

_"Hello."_

Freddy's eyes shot open as he sat up in his bed. It was still dark outside. He checked the time: 2:30.

He looked around; he had definitely heard a voice in the darkness.

_"Hi."_

There it was again. A child's voice, there was no mistaking it. It sounded like it was coming from outside his window.

Freddy hopped out of bed and peeked through the blinds of his dorm room window. There was no one there, but there was a note taped outside the window. Unable to see exactly what it said due to the darkness, Freddy grabbed his phone from the desk and shined the light from the screen at the window.

_Deep in the woods, a message awaits you,_

_About the location of your purple friend._

_The crime that was done you now can undo._

_You must come quickly, or his life may end._

_-BB_

Freddy looked at the note for a second before turning on the light and getting dressed. He had no idea who "BB" was, but he didn't have time to care. Whoever he was, he appeared to have information on Bonnie's whereabouts. He wasn't sure if this was a threat to Bonnie's life, or someone trying to help, but any info on Bonnie's whereabouts was better than nothing.

Once Freddy zipped up his jacket, he grabbed the flashlight his dad had given him from his desk and ran out of his room, not even bothering to turn off the light to his room.

Once outside, Freddy glanced up at his still illuminated room from the ground.

_How the hell did he climb up to the second floor to leave that note on my window?_ Freddy thought to himself.

As Freddy approached the woods, he realized that he had no idea where he was going. These woods were massive, and the note had only said "deep in the woods".

_Wow, thanks for the help, BB._ Freddy thought to himself, annoyed, before hearing a child's laughter coming from about 20 yards to his left. He pointed his flashlight in the direction of the laugh to see something tied to a high branch on one of the trees on the edge of the forest. He jogged over to the tree to see that it was a red balloon. When Freddy pointed his flashlight into the forest from that point, he saw that several of the trees within also had red balloons tied to them, almost as if they were making...

"A path!" Freddy exclaimed, before covering his mouth. He looked back at Scott and Cawthon. The only light was coming from his own room. The bear breathed a sigh of relief before following the path of balloons into the woods.

After about 10 minutes of walking in an extremely convoluted path through the woods, Freddy finally saw a yellow balloon tied to to a low branch. He approached the last balloon to see that there was another note tied to the string. Freddy pulled the note from the string and opened it before pointing his flashlight at it.

_You solved my first clue, so riddle me this:_

_From where will you rescue the one that you miss?_

_When Rome has been burned and where cows venture not,_

_The birds, the birds, they mark the spot!_

_-BB_

Freddy groaned upon reading the note. _Great, a riddle, that's super clear._ Still, at least he now had a lead as to where Bonnie could be. As the bear began to follow the path of balloons back to the campus, he pondered over the meaning of the poem as he wandered through the woods, yet he couldn't come up with anything.

Once he finally reached the entrance to his building, he turned off his flashlight and sighed; he wasn't going to make any progress on his own, not tonight anyway. He could ask Foxy and Chica about it tomorrow. He pushed the door open and walked over to the stairwell.

Once Freddy reached his room, he almost opened the door before he heard voices coming from inside. Freddy's heart skipped a beat; someone was inside his room. Freddy thought back to when he had left; he had definitely locked the door. That left only one way they could have gotten in: Bonnie's key. But why? What did they need from their room? Freddy pressed his brown ear to the door, careful to stay out of sight of the peephole and keep his feet away from the crack under the door.

"Ya find anythin'?" A voice asked. It was a thick southern accent.

"Nothin'." A second voice replied, this one a Brooklyn accent. "I told you the rabbit was tellin' the truth. Although there is this picture of a lady bear here. This Freddy kid must be some kinda mama's boy."

This caused the first person to laugh. Freddy bared his fangs with a low growl as he placed his hand on the doorknob, ready to barge in at the right moment. These people clearly knew something about Bonnie's disappearance, and Freddy intended on finding out what. Maybe one of them would mention an address, or some hint about where Bonnie was being held.

"Whatever, let's get goin'." The second man spoke as he approached the door, "We tell the boss the truth: nothin' here for-"

However, he was cut off by Freddy suddenly opening the door. The bear lunged at the first man, a short redheaded human with freckles, with a loud roar as he tackled him to the ground. The second man, a tall Anthro pigeon, tried to run, but was tripped by Freddy, who stuck out one of his back paws in front of the bird's feet.

Freddy easily managed to easily overpower the two intruders, especially since he had caught them off guard. The bear picked each of them up with a single paw.

"WHERE IS HE?!" the bear roared, causing both men to flinch. By now, the trio had made enough noise to lure many of Freddy's hall mates out of their rooms. They had gathered around his door, curious as to what the commotion was all about.

"We don't know, I swear!" The pigeon choked out, Freddy's grip on his neck tightening, "We get our instructions over the phone, we don't know where the boss is keeping the kid. Honest!"

Freddy was just about to roar again when he felt a blow to the back of his head; the human had managed to reach the photo of Freddy's mom and use the picture frame as a club. The sudden blow caused Freddy to drop the two men, who pushed past the crowd of people and ran out of the room before Freddy regained his senses.

After several seconds, Freddy slowly got to his feet. He was just about to go after the two men before seeing the destroyed photo of his mother on the ground. The picture frame was smashed to pieces, and the photograph itself was torn slightly from the impact with the ground and broken glass. The bear collapsed to the ground before clutching the broken picture in his arms, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

After several seconds of sobbing on the ground, Freddy looked up to see that the small crowd of people was still outside his door.

"What the hell are you looking at?!" he roared at the group of people, "Get out of here!"

The group quickly dispersed as the bear stood up and slammed the door, locking it. Freddy walked back to his chair before sitting down again.

"Why did you have to leave?" he asked aloud as he ran his paw gently over the torn photo of his mother again, "You were always there to guide me, but now I just feel lost. I don't know what to do anymore. I miss you so much."

Freddy set the broken photograph down on his desk before turning off the lights, undressing, and climbing into bed. As his head hit the pillow, he continued to weep quietly until sleep eventually overcame him.


	8. Riddle Me This

Foxy was frantically knocking on Chica's door with his right paw. In his left he clutched an old piece of paper.

_"Hold your horses, I'm coming!" _he heard the chicken call out from the other side from the other side.

Foxy continued to pound the door with his fist for a few more seconds until Chica finally cracked open the door and peeked out, the look of death in her purple eyes.

"What in God's name could anyone possibly need from me that can't wait until-"

The bird's expression suddenly changed from annoyance over being woken up so early to concern once she saw who was at her door. If Foxy was here and in as much of a panic as he was, then it could mean one thing.

"Have you heard anything about Bonnie?" Chica whispered.

"Someone slipped this under my door last night." Foxy showed Chica the paper in his hand.

Chica looked at it for a second before looking back at the fox.

"Let me get dressed, then come inside so we can talk." She said in a low voice as she closed the door.

Several seconds later the door reopened, and Chica beckoned Foxy inside before closing the door again, locking it. She didn't want anyone walking in on them.

The duo sat down at Chica's desk and Foxy laid the paper out on the surface. It was a map, and a very old one at that. It had a yellowish hue to it and was wrinkled and torn in several places. It appeared to show the University and the surrounding area, including the neighboring town, the forest, and the nearby lake.

"Why would someone give you an old map of the area?" Chica asked as she examined the map.

"That's not all." Foxy explained as he flipped the map over. Written in small letters in the bottom right hand corner were the initials _BB._ The ink was dark and fresh; it had clearly been written recently.

Chica's eyes suddenly widened, and she reached into her backpack which was sitting by her desk.

"Come on, I know it's in here somewhere." she muttered as she rifled through her bag.

"Chica, what are you looking for?" Foxy asked.

"This." Chica answered as she pulled a textbook titled _Ancient Roman History_ out of her backpack.

"My history TA gave me this book 2 days ago," Chica explained as she opened the book to the inside cover, "she said that someone had left it her office, with a note that said it was for me. Look here."

Chica pointed to the inside cover, which contained a few lines of handwritten text.

_He governed the Empire Rome,_

_Until he did burn down his home._

_Britannicus, Mother,_

_One after another,_

_Through Pluto's domain may he roam._

_-BB_

"When I first saw it thought it was just notes by whoever had the book before me," Chica explained, "but look at the signature. 'BB'. What is it?"

"It's a limerick." Foxy answered as he re-read the poem to himself.

"A what?" Chica inquired.

"A limerick. It's a short, usually humorous poem that uses this rhyme scheme." Foxy explained as he pointed at the poem in Chica's book. "And based on the handwriting, I'd be willing to bet that your book and my map were sent to us by the same person."

"But why would someone send us an old map of the area and a history book with a limerick in the front?" Chica asked as she turned to face the fox.

Before Foxy could answer, they heard a knock at the door.

_"Chica, it's Freddy," _they heard a voice call out from the other side of the door, _"there's something you need to see."_

* * *

Bonnie was suddenly awoken by Nero violently kicking him. He had been sleeping on the ground, having barely moved from the spot where he first collapsed the previous day.

"Where are you hiding it?!" Nero shouted at Bonnie before stomping on his chest, causing the smaller rabbit to cough up blood.

"I-I already said I don't know what you're talking about!" Bonnie cried out as he tried in vain to scramble away. "P-lease, stop..."

The previous night, Nero had woken Bonnie up demanding that he tell him where he was keeping the book. Bonnie had no idea what Nero was talking about, yet Nero had screamed something about keeping it a secret.

_"If the wrong person finds that book, I'm finished. I cannot let that happen!"_

Bonnie genuinely didn't know what Nero meant by this; the only books Bonnie owned were his heavily used textbooks that he had gotten for very cheap. He had told Nero this, but this only served to infuriate Nero further, which resulted in Nero carving a long incision down one of his ears using a pocket knife. This blood loss (in addition to the gash from when he had fallen the day before) had made it nearly impossible for Bonnie to stay conscious for more than a few hours at a time.

Nero started to storm out of the room before he turned back to the wounded rabbit. He bent down and lifted Bonnie up by his gray hood, which was extremely bloodstained at this point.

"I must have my revenge," Nero hissed into Bonnie's ear, "I will not let my sweet sister have died in vain!"

Bonnie could only whimper in fear as he expected another beating. However, Nero then began to sob, still holding the purple rabbit slightly off the ground.

"Oh, sweet little Bella," he lamented, "it wasn't fair for your life to end so soon. But rest assured, you will be avenged. I will destroy every last human on this planet until I find the one that took you away from me."

Bonnie's heart skipped a beat. Did he hear correctly, or was the massive blood loss causing him to hallucinate?

"D-did you just say Bella?" Bonnie hesitantly asked.

Nero just nodded as his grip on Bonnie loosened. Still dizzy, Bonnie clumsily collapsed in the chair he had been tied to. Nero reached into his pocket, causing Bonnie to flinch, but instead of a weapon, he pulled out his wallet. The black rabbit reached inside and pulled out an old photograph and showed it to Bonnie. It was probably about 50 years old.

The photograph contained two Anthro rabbit kits: an older boy with black fur holding a younger girl with purple fur, identical in color to Bonnie. The boy, presumably Nero, wore a ratty black t-shirt and faded blue jean shorts and was smiling at the camera. He actually looked just like Bonnie did when he was about 3, clothes and all. The only difference was his fur color.

The girl was wearing a yellow onesie, had a pink pacifier in her mouth, and was asleep in Nero's arms. Bonnie's eyes widened upon seeing her; there was no doubt about it, the purple rabbit in the photo was his mother, Bella.

Bonnie had seen baby pictures of his mother before, but nothing from before when she was about 2. Bella was adopted by a kind Anthro couple, a stag named William and a lioness named Mary, after she was found rolled up in a bunch of blankets outside an orphanage in the middle of the night. No note, just a locket around her neck that said "Bella". The couple couldn't have kids of their own, so when they went to the orphanage to adopt, they saw Bella and fell in love with her immediately. Not knowing anything other than her first name, William and Mary had given her the surname "Bunny".

Bonnie looked at Nero, who had collapsed to the ground in tears.

"Nero," Bonnie began cautiously, "Bella is alive."

Nero suddenly sprung to his feet and got in Bonnie's face.

"What did you just say?" the black rabbit demanded, inches away from Bonnie's light purple muzzle.

"Bella is alive," the purple rabbit repeated, not budging from where he was sitting, "she's my mother."

"Impossible, I saw her get taken away." Nero spat out. " All humans are the same, they're just heartless killers who see us as animals, as _prey._"

Nero added a light growl to the last word, but Bonnie stayed strong.

"It's true," Bonnie continued, "she was adopted and grew up in a wonderful home. She got married and had two kids: a pair of twins, a chicken and a rabbit. Don't you see? You don't have to-"

"LIAR!" Nero shrieked as he punched Bonnie in the face, knocking him to the ground. Bonnie heard a _*crack*_ as his face collided with the concrete floor. Bonnie immediately tasted the blood that dripped from his nose into his mouth, and started to have trouble breathing; he had broken his nose.

Bonnie didn't have the strength or willpower to even try to fight back as Nero picked up the chair and slammed it into his frail body. The black rabbit continued to kick and stomp on Bonnie while screaming that he was a liar and a traitor to his own kind; Bonnie remained silent on the floor.

Eventually, Nero grew tired and left Bonnie, who was now beaten to a pulp, on the ground and made his way towards the door; it seemed he had stopped caring about his hostage's wellbeing. Just before Bonnie lost consciousness, his thoughts turned to a brown bear, a yellow chicken, and, most prominently, a red fox.

_Please help me._

* * *

"So what does it all mean?" Freddy asked as he, Chica, and Foxy looked over the map, book, and notes that were now spread out on Chica's desk.

As soon as Freddy had woken up that morning, he ran to Chica's room to show her the notes from the night before. He was surprised to see that Chica and Foxy had both also gotten notes from this mysterious "BB".

"BB..." Freddy pondered as he looked up, "Boniface Bunny?"

"No, it's not his handwriting," Chica replied with a frown, "Also, if he is being held prisoner somewhere, then how could he send us these things?"

"True..." Freddy muttered as he looked back down.

"Regardless," Chica began, looking up from the desk, "it's obviously some sort of puzzle. Whoever left these clearly intended for us to work together, hence why we each only got one piece."

"He, or she, specified 'your purple friend', so we can only assume that they mean Bonnie," Foxy said excitedly, "BB must want us to go rescue him!"

"Hold on, slow down," Freddy cautioned, placing his paw on Foxy's shoulder, "we can't assume anything. For all we know, this could be a trap set by the same people that took him. We can't even assume that this BB is benevolent.

"Besides," the bear continued with a sigh, "even if they do want us to find Bonnie, all we have are a few cryptic poems, a 500 page textbook on ancient Rome, and a map that's probably not even accurate any more."

"Freddy's right," Chica agreed, "We have to be very careful. This could be extremely dangerous."

"Bonnie _is_ in danger!" Foxy shouted at the chicken. "Two people broke into Freddy and Bonnie's room last night, and they definitely work for whoever took him. Even if this is dangerous, we have to try to save him. Don't you even care about him?"

"How dare you?!" Chica screamed angrily at the fox, "He's my own brother, I've known him all my life. You've only known him for a month. If anyone here wants to save him, it's me. I just don't think we should rush in blindly until we know more."

Foxy growled at this, bearing his fangs at Chica. Chica clenched her fists and got into a battle stance; they were both ready to fight.

"Well, we're not saving anyone until we solve this riddle!" Freddy pointed out as he jumped in between the two, "So let's get to work on it."

Chica and Foxy exchanged another heated glance before nodding and looking at the clues on the desk. Chica picked up the poem Freddy found in the woods and read aloud.

"_You solved my first clue, so riddle me this:_

_From where will you rescue the one that you miss?_

_When Rome has been burned and where cows venture not,_

_The birds, the birds, they mark the spot!"_

"When Rome has been burned," Chica muttered as she looked at the book, "The poem from the book mentions a Roman emperor burning his home. I remember reading something about this..."

Chica checked the table of contents before flipping to a page in the middle of the book.

"Here." she pointed to a bust of a Roman Emperor as she began to read.

"_In the year 54, the Roman Emperor Claudius died and was succeeded by his step-son and great-nephew, Nero."_

Chica paused as Freddy and Foxy gave each other an uneasy glance. She took a deep breath before continuing.

_"Nero was not actually the intended successor to Claudius; rather, it was originally his biological son, Britannicus. However, Britannicus was too young at the time of Claudius' death to take over the empire. In the year 55, Nero reportedly poisoned and killed his step-brother a day before Britannicus would legally reach adulthood. Four years later, in the year 59, Nero's mother Agrippina died mysteriously. Historians are not entirely sure of the circumstances surrounding her death, but many believe that Nero ordered her murder, as she had supported Britannicus as being the rightful heir to the throne over Nero._

_"Four years before Nero's death in 68, Rome was nearly destroyed by a fire; this became known as the Great Fire of Rome. Nero is believed by some to be responsible for the fire, while others claim he was instrumental in providing relief to those affected. Nero publicly blamed Christians, a minority in Rome at the time, for starting the fire. The fire lasted six days, completely destroying 3 of Rome's 14 districts."_

Chica stopped reading and looked up.

"_Britannicus, mother, one after another,_" Foxy recited, looking at the bust of emperor Nero, "Emperor Nero killed his step brother Britannicus, and then his mother."

"_When Rome has been burned..." _Freddy's voice trailed off, "you guys don't think... Dr. Nero?"

"Impossible," Chica replied, shaking her head, "I mean, he's not exactly the nicest guy ever, but he's no kidnapper. Is he?"

"I mean, it does kind of make sense." Foxy pondered, "The last time we saw either of them was when Bonnie went to talk to Dr. Nero after class 3 days ago. And then we got that email..."

"It's probably just a coincidence. Let's focus on the rest of the clues." Freddy quickly suggested, not wanting to throw false accusations, "_The birds, the birds, they mark the spot."_

"Well," Foxy replied pointing to the map, "we do have a map. Perhaps we should look for any references or shapes of birds. That might give us some clue as to where Bonnie is."

Freddy and Chica nodded before the trio began to inspect the map. However, after about 20 minutes of combing every inch of the map, holding it upside down, sideways, and even up to the light, Foxy slammed his fist on the desk.

"Dammit!" the fox swore, "There's nothing here even closely related to birds. Why did he have to be so damn cryptic with these clues?"

"Let's just focus on another part of the poem," Chica suggested, picking up the piece of paper, "_Where cows venture not._ Where would cows not want to go?"

"A burger place?" Freddy suggested.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Freddy." Foxy muttered at the bear.

"No, I'm serious," Freddy continued as he looked at the map, "The clue about the Nero was pretty straightforward, so why not this one? It's at least worth a try."

Freddy and Chica began to look for anywhere on the map that sells burgers, while Foxy was lost in thought.

_'The birds, the birds, they mark the spot.' _Foxy thought to himself. _Why does that sound so familiar?_

Foxy continued to rack his brain for a moment when he jumped to his feet, a look of realization on his face.

"I need to grab something from my room upstairs, I'll be right back!" The canine exclaimed before running out of the room.

Freddy and Chica gave each other a confused look before continuing to look for any burger places on the map. Fortunately, they found several places that sold hamburgers to which the poem could be referring; unfortunately, there were so many restaurants and stores that they had no idea how to even begin to narrow them down.

A couple of minutes later, Foxy burst into the room; he was carrying a small book in his paws.

"As soon as I read the line about the birds, I thought it sounded familiar." Foxy panted as he held up the book in his hands: _Moby Dick_. "It's not a clue about birds; it's a quote. Bonnie and I are reading this novel in our English class right now, and BB must have somehow known that I was reading it."

Foxy flipped to a page, cleared his throat, and began to read.

_"Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. The birds! - the birds! They mark the spot."_

Freddy raised an eyebrow.

"That's great and all, but how exactly does that help us?" the bear asked.

"I think the clue isn't referring to birds at all; I think it's referring to the Moby Dick himself," Foxy explained, "Let me see the map."

Chica handed him the map; the fox looked at for about 3 seconds until his yellow eyes lit up.

"Here!" Foxy pointed to a building on the Northwest edge of the map. Freddy and Chica gathered around him to get a look. Foxy's finger was pointing to a seafood restaurant called...

"_The White Whale." _Freddy murmured, a hopeful smile appearing on his maw. Chica however, was less optimistic.

"That's great and all, but remember that other line? _'Where cows venture not'? _That's a seafood restaurant. It doesn't have anything to do with cows."

Freddy shook his head, pointing to the map.

"No, look," the bear pointed out, "Right across the street from the restaurant: a slaughterhouse."

The trio silently stared at the map for several seconds. If their logic was correct, and if BB was to be trusted, then that slaughterhouse was where Bonnie was being kept.

"Hold on," Foxy said, breaking the silence, "Why did BB have to give us such an old map? Why not a modern one."

"Maybe there's something on this map that isn't there anymore," Chica responded, "Hang on..."

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a current town map that she had gotten from her RA. She looked up at where the restaurant and slaughterhouse were on the old map.

The building that the restaurant was in was still there, but it seemed to now be a shoe store. The slaughterhouse didn't even appear on the new map, the building having probably been abandoned some time ago.

"I think I know why BB gave Foxy the old map, me the book with the limerick, and Freddy the two notes with the poems." Chica began, looking up from the maps, "You wouldn't have been able to solve this riddle without all of the clues."

"So you're saying..." Freddy's voice trailed off.

"He - or she - wanted us to work together on this. They could have easily given one of us all 3 clues, or even simplified the riddle and given it to one person. But he forced us to all solve it, making sure that we all know where he's being held. But why?"

"Who cares?!" Foxy suddenly piped in, "Now we know where Bonnie is. Why does it matter how we found out? We should go there right now!"

Foxy turned to leave, but Freddy grabbed his arm with his paw.

"What are you doing?" Foxy asked, turning around.

"We still have no idea what we're up against, Foxy." Freddy answered, not letting go of Foxy's arm. "It may have been Dr. Nero, it may not have been. But regardless of who is responsible, we don't know what we may find there. Whoever took Bonnie has at least two people working for him, probably plus at least one guard for Bonnie, maybe more. They could be armed, and we'd almost certainly be outnumbered and outgunned if just the three of us went in blindly."

"Then we go to the police!" Foxy exclaimed, trying to pull away. However, Freddy's grip was too tight.

"That's, uh, maybe not the best idea." Freddy muttered, seeing the look of Chica's face. "Besides, it's not like we have any proof. I hardly think that an old map, a textbook, a few scraps of paper I found in the woods, a text message with bad grammar, and a name similarity between our Biology professor and a Roman emperor are enough evidence to warrant searching an abandoned slaughterhouse."

"We have to try! He's been missing for three days now." Foxy protested with a whine. Freddy released the fox's arm and stepped back, remembering the last time he continued to upset Foxy after he whined like that. Fortunately, Chica decided to step in.

"Look, Foxy," the bird began, "We're all worried about Bonnie. And now we know where he probably is. But risking our lives by blindly rushing in there unarmed won't help Bonnie or us."

Foxy looked into Chica's purple eyes as tears began to fill his own.

"What if he's hurt?" Foxy's voice began to crack, "What if they're torturing him? You remember the line in the poem? _'Or his life may end'._ What if we're too late and he's already... already..."

"Shut up." Freddy suddenly stepped in. "That's not true. BB gave us most of these clues in the past 6 hours. I don't know how, but somehow, they know Bonnie's whereabouts. If they know that then they probably also know his well-being. He's still alive, and that's why BB sent us these clues."

"But he might not be if we wait for much longer!" Fox cried out. "We're wasting time even talking about it now. We need to go!"

Foxy tried to leave again, but Chica blocked the doorway.

"Freddy's right, Foxy," Chica declared, not budging, "We need to think through our options before we do anything."

"What is there to think through?!" Foxy exclaimed, tears now streaming down his face. "Bonnie's life is in danger, and we know exactly where he's being held. There is only one option!"

"Foxy!" Freddy yelled, causing the Foxy to turn around, "Listen to me! In the time I have known you, you've been nothing but logical and collected about everything that happens to you. But now, you're being rash and acting completely out of emotion. This isn't like you!"

Foxy was silent, looking down to avoid eye contact with Freddy.

"Why are you being so irrational about this?" Freddy inquired, slightly louder than before, "Chica and l want to save Bonnie just as much as you do, but only you're reacting this way."

"F-Freddy..." Foxy sobbed.

"Even his own sister is more level-headed than you are right now," Freddy continued, raising his voice even more, "Why?"

"P-please...don't..." Foxy begged, still staring at the ground.

"Tell me!" Freddy demanded.

"..."

"TELL ME!" The bear repeated, now up to a full shout.

"BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HIM!" Foxy finally screamed before collapsing onto his knees, burying his muzzle in his paws as he bawled his eyes out.

Freddy gave Chica a shocked glance. This wasn't what he had expected at all. Chica, however, calmly knelt beside Foxy and placed a wing on his back.

"Foxy..." Chica began, but was cut off by Foxy violently turning to face her, a look of rage present in his yellow eyes.

"Are you happy now, Chica?" The fox asked, tears still falling from his eyes, "Happy that you've been proven right? Because the secret's out now: I'm gay, and I'm in love with Bonnie."

"Foxy, I-"

"All those things you said to me a few days ago, they're all true." Foxy interrupted as he began to stand up, "Yes, I spend as much time with Bonnie as I can, because being around him makes me happy, happier than I've ever been in my entire life. Yes, I get this goofy look on my face whenever I talk to him, because I think it's adorable how shy and reserved he is. And yes, my tail wags whenever I see him because I'm extremely attracted to him, both on a physical and emotional level, and that's what causes my tail to wag the way it does. Usually I can control it a little bit, but not with Bonnie. It's like he takes over my thoughts, and nothing else in the world matters when he's around.

"And I've denied it to everyone, even myself, up to this point, because I was scared," the fox continued, wiping the tears from his eyes, "I even had a girlfriend for about a year in high school because it seemed like a normal thing to do, but it never felt quite right. We broke up because I just didn't really have any romantic feelings towards her. But with Bonnie, everything just comes so naturally. I truly did believe that we were just friends, because I didn't really understand what love felt like before now. Now that he's missing, and possibly hurt, I finally realize that he's so much more important to me than that. To me, the thought of losing him terrifies me more than losing my own life. And if that's not love, then I don't know what is."

Foxy then turned to Freddy and spoke with a confidence that Freddy and Chica hadn't heard before that day.

"That's why I'm going to do whatever it takes to save him. To me, he's worth the risk."

Foxy stared into Freddy's bright blue eyes as he said this, satisfied with his decision. After a moment, Chica smiled and suddenly pulled the fox into a hug, surprising the fox.

"I'm glad that you came out of the closet to us, Foxy," Chica began, "I can't even begin to imagine how hard that must have been."

"Thank you, Chica," Foxy replied as he reciprocated the hug, "I was afraid of how you would react, but I just couldn't hold it in anymore."

Chica released Foxy, but he was soon pulled into another hug, this time by Freddy.

"Foxy, I am not a brave bear," Freddy began, "that's why I was so reluctant to go after Bonnie; I was too scared. But if Bonnie is that special to you, then I'm more than willing to take that risk. Because you're one of my best friends, and that's what friends do; they look out for each other. Chica?"

"I'm in." The bird replied, beaming.

Freddy released Foxy, who had started to cry again; this time, however, they were tears of joy and relief. He had just divulged the biggest secret of his life, and his friends were not only accepting of his sexuality, but also supportive of his love for the purple rabbit.

"Tonight, we are going to that slaughterhouse," Freddy began, "but we need a plan. I'll get us flashlights, radios, black clothes to blend in, and first aid materials, since Bonnie may need medical attention when we get to him. Foxy, you go to the library and see if you can find a blueprint of the slaughterhouse. We need to know that place's layout inside and out. You may have to dig deep, since I have no idea how long ago that place shut down. We'll also need weapons. Chica, you think you can you 'borrow' some baseballs, bats, and anything else you can think of from the store you work at?"

Chica smirked as she nodded, while Foxy wiped his eyes again, both of them looking at Freddy.

"We are going to save Bonnie," Freddy declared confidently, "You have my word."

* * *

**Edit:**

**Changed this chapter title, since I realized that "Riddle Me This" sounds more interesting than what I had before.**


	9. Nero Fiddled while Rome Burned

Freddy, Chica, and Foxy finally had the slaughterhouse in sight. It stood at the edge of the woods, just invisible from the nearby road due to the trees; the only way one could find it would be to already know where it was. The building itself was tall and decrepit with rusted metal walls and a tall barbed wire fence surrounding it. Several _KEEP OUT_ and _NO TRESPASSING_ signs covered the fence, but the now brown walls of the slaughterhouse itself were still littered with graffiti, some of which had probably been there for 20 or 30 years.

The trio had approached the building from the woods themselves, using the map BB gave them as a guide. They each wore a long, all black shirt and pants as well as three ski masks that Chica had gotten from her workplace. In their backpacks they each carried a flashlight and radio they could use if necessary, as they didn't get cell service out here. They also each had a metal baseball bat hanging from their backpacks and a few baseballs in the bags for melee and ranged weapons, while Freddy had a first aid kit he had stolen from the infirmary. He had feigned illness during his seminar that day, and used the opportunity to take several basic medical supplies from the infirmary while the nurse was out of the room.

Once they reached the fence, the three split up to look for any holes big enough for a person to fit through. Freddy went left and Chica went right, while Foxy stayed in the middle so he could see both the bear and the chicken. The plan was that once Freddy or Chica found a hole, they would flash their light twice at Foxy; Foxy would then be the one to climb through, because he was the skinniest of the three of them. The trio planned to complete the operation as silently as possible, not wanting to alert anyone who may be guarding the building of their presence; the radios and weapons they had brought were only if they absolutely needed them, since they knew they wouldn't stand a chance in a fire fight.

After Freddy and Chica went their separate ways to look for an opening, Foxy used this time alone to ponder his identity. In the past several weeks, he had come to the conclusion that he had no idea who he was, and Bonnie's kidnapping had only served to confuse him more. He had always thought that he might be gay, seeing as he had never been interested in girls, at least not romantically. As he had told Chica and Freddy, he had dated one girl in high school starting his junior year. She was a friend of Foxy's, an Anthro German shepherd named Katie; Foxy had asked her to homecoming, yet he only had the intention of going as friends. Katie, however, had interpreted Foxy's proposal as a romantic gesture, which she happily accepted; not wanting to upset her, Foxy just sort of went with it, and the two began "officially" dating shortly after the dance.

Foxy was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw a light flash twice about 20 yards to his left; Freddy had found a hole in the fence. Foxy quickly jogged over to where Freddy was standing, and they were shortly joined by Chica.

Freddy pointed his light down at the ground, gesturing to a small hole at the bottom of the fence that was just big enough for Foxy to slide through. Foxy nodded and removed his backpack and taking out a pair of pliers he kept in the glove box of his car. He put the pliers in his mouth and crouched down, preparing to crawl through the hole.

The red fox had almost cleared the fence when the base of his tail snagged on the barbed wire. He let out a small yelp, dropping the pliers, before quickly covering his mouth, yellow eyes wide with horror. He lay there silently, using his canine ears to listen for anyone that may have heard him.

Satisfied after several seconds of silence, Foxy leaned back and unstuck his tail before picking up the pliers with his mouth again and finally passing completely through the fence. Staying on all fours, the fox quickly darted to his left, towards the main gate of the fence. Freddy and Chica followed along the other side of the fence, though they were barely able to keep up; Foxy was fast.

When he finally reached the gate, he stood up and removed the pliers from his mouth, while Chica shined her flashlight on the gate. The gate had a large, industrial metal chain around it, tied off by a lock that had long since lost its key. Fortunately, much of the chain was rusted, and destroying it was simply a matter of finding the weakest link. After several minutes of searching with the help of Chica's flashlight, Foxy finally found a bent link that was already almost completely destroyed already. He placed the pliers around the thinnest part of the chain and squeezed. He heard a loud _*pop*_ as the link snapped, allowing Foxy to slowly remove the chain from the fence, not wanting to make any more noise.

Once the chain was on the ground, Freddy pushed open the gate allowing himself and Chica to pass through and join Foxy. Freddy handed Foxy his bag, and the three of them then made their way towards the entrance of the building.

* * *

Ted was pacing around his room nervously. He had been instructed to wait for Foxy, since he would have to come back to their room at some point. However, it was midnight, and Ted had been waiting for almost 6 hours. Just as he was about to give up, Ted's phone rang. The small bear checked the caller ID to see that it was Chelsea. Ted pushed the green button labeled _Answer_ and put the phone up to his ear.

_"Hey, have you seen Foxy yet?" _The chicken's voice was uneasy.

"No, I haven't. I've been waiting for about 6 hours now." Ted responded, "I'm guessing you haven't seen Chica either?"

_"Yeah..." _the bird responded, _"Should we call Brad?"_

"No." Ted replied flatly. "There's no reason to get him involved."

Ted was aware of Brad's plan to make Foxy feel vulnerable. The plan was to get Bonnie away from Foxy for a few hours on Tuesday, which was when Ted would try again to get Bonnie alone. However, Foxy didn't become vulnerable and defenseless as Brad had planned; the red fox had instead become brash and aggressive, blocking out everyone else, especially Ted. Things got worse when Bonnie stayed missing for a few days after that; Ted voiced his concern to Brad, yet the blue rabbit had simply said it was all part of the plan. Now, the fact that Foxy and Chica had both gone missing today as well had Ted worried. Was this really part of the plan?

_"Well," _Chelsea responded after a few seconds, _"if they're not back by morning, I'm calling the police. Bonnie's been gone for three days now. I don't care if this is part of Brad's plan."_

Ted sighed. Chelsea was right, but he still didn't want to seem weak in Brad's eyes. Becoming a brother of Tau Alpha Nu was all that he had for him at the moment, but he was starting to wonder if Brad's intentions were more sinister than they seemed.

* * *

Freddy pulled off his mask once he, Foxy, and Chica got inside the slaughterhouse. They were standing in the middle of a long hallway that was pitch black; the only source of light was Freddy's flashlight. The bear pulled out the blueprint that Foxy had procured from the library and shined his flashlight on in.

"We're right here," the bear whispered as he pointed to a small room at the bottom of the map, "and Bonnie is likely being held here."

Freddy pointed to a room in the back of the building.

"What makes you say that?" Chica asked, removing her own mask.

"That's the one room with locking doors according to the building plans," Freddy responded, "so they're most likely keeping him there for extra security. But in reality, he could be anywhere in here. _If_ he's even in here at all."

"Well we can't waste any time arguing about it." Foxy piped up as he ripped his mask off, "I say we split up and each take a different path before meeting up at that room."

"Absolutely not," Freddy countered, furrowing his brow, "We're unprepared enough as it is, if we go anywhere alone then we don't stand a chance. At least right now, we may have strength in numbers."

"Who put you in charge?" Foxy snapped at the bear.

"Well, excuse me for being the one rational person here." Freddy replied, raising his voice slightly.

Foxy let out a low growl, clearly frustrated with Freddy's self-proclaimed role as leader. Freddy growled back, bearing his teeth slightly. Chica quickly stepped in between the two.

"Look, you two can fight for power later," she began sternly, "but right now, we need to focus on saving my brother. Freddy's right, we need to stick together. I say we start by heading-"

She stopped speaking suddenly when she heard a door open at the end of the hallway. The three of them looked at each other in a panic before running to a supply closet on the opposite end of the hallway as the opening door. Thankfully, it was unlocked, so Freddy turned off his flashlight before he, Chica, and Foxy crowded inside and shut the door.

They heard footsteps further down the hallway get closer for several seconds, but they suddenly stopped. After a few seconds of silence, they heard a radio switch on.

"Hey, boss," they heard a male voice say, "we have a problem."

_"What is it? I'm busy!" _they heard the other voice of the radio snap. Freddy looked wide eyed at his friends, who stared back in realization; there was no mistaking it, it was definitely Dr. Nero's voice.

"I heard some voices by the entrance so I came to investigate," the man answered, "When I got here I found three ski masks on the floor. I think we have guests."

Freddy's face paled. The masks. They must have dropped them when they heard the man coming.

They heard a metallic _*clang*_ from the radio speaker, followed by a loud _*thud*_.

_"I was afraid this would happen. I'll bet it's that Fazbear kid and his friends. Ok, I'll be right out. Keep an eye on Bonnie for me while I handle it."_

The radio clicked off and the trio heard the footsteps get further away. After about 10 seconds of silence, Freddy slowly opened the door. Foxy tried to jump out and chase after the man, but he was stopped by Chica grabbing him by the waist.

"You idiot!" Chica whispered sharply as she held on to the fox, "You'll blow our cover."

"He's going to where Bonnie is being held!" Foxy snapped back as he unsuccessfully attempted to break free of Chica's grip.

"They already know we're here, so why does it matter?"

"Because they don't know exactly where we are yet," Freddy responded as he pointed the flashlight down the hallway, "and that still gives us a slight advantage."

Freddy began walking down the hallway, away from where the man had gone; Chica and Foxy followed him, albeit the latter much more reluctantly.

* * *

Bonnie woke up to find himself once again tied to the chair. He tried to inhale, but was met instead with a sharp pain in his muzzle; his nose was still broken from when Nero had knocked him out of the chair earlier.

The purple rabbit was just about to pass out again when he heard Nero's voice behind him.

"Hold still. This will be be much less painful if you do."

Bonnie didn't have time to think before being quickly turned around in the chair he was sitting in. He came face to face with Nero, who held a large, serrated knife in his jet black paw.

"W-what are you going to do to me?" Bonnie asked weakly as his eyes drooped; he could barely stay conscious for a few minutes at a time anymore.

"By now, they will have realized that you're missing," Nero answered as he spun the knife around in his paw, "so I intend to inform the University of my demands, as well as my current hostage situation. That's why I'm going to cut off your ear and send it to them."

Bonnie grew pale. _Cut off his ear?!_ Even though Bonnie had no idea how long he had been held here, it couldn't have been more than a few days. Even still, Nero's mental state seemed to have severely degraded in that time; he had gone from feeding Bonnie to threatening to cut his ear off.

Nero licked his knife maniacally as he approached the smaller rabbit, causing Bonnie to panic even more.

"W-wait!" Bonnie pleaded desperately, tears filling his eyes. "Why do you need to cut off my ear. Surely you could just send a photo, or some of my fur, or something. P-please..."

"I need to prove that I'm serious." Nero hissed as he brought the knife up to the base of Bonnie's right ear. "I cannot show any weakness. I must prove how far I am willing to go. They won't be able to ignore me now."

Nero moved the knife up and down Bonnie's ear, looking for the best place to cut. All the while he did this, he had a look in his eye that somehow made him look even more insane than he already was. Bonnie closed his eyes, expecting the worse pain of his life...

But it never came.

Just before Nero was about to chop, the radio on his belt clicked on. Nero groaned as he picked it up and pushed the button on the side.

_"Hey boss, we have a problem."_

"What is it?" Nero snapped into the radio mic as he lowered the knife. "I'm busy."

_"I heard some voices by the entrance so I came to investigate. When I got here I found three ski masks on the floor. I think we have guests."_

Nero through the knife of the ground, making a metallic _*clang*_ and kicked over Bonnie's chair in anger. The purple rabbit hit the ground with a _*thud*,_ his head colliding with cement floor.

"I was afraid this would happen. I'll bet its that Fazbear kid and his friends." Nero grumbled in the mic before turning towards the doorway to leave. "Ok, I'll be right out. Keep an eye on Bonnie for me while I handle it."

He clicked the radio off and glared at Bonnie one more time before leaving.

"Try anything funny and you'll lose much worse than your ear."

The black rabbit stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Laying on the ground, Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. By some stroke of luck, he had managed to avoid having his ear cut off in the nick of time because someone was here to rescue him. And from the sound of it, it was probably Freddy, Chica, and Foxy. As Bonnie pondered this, his vision become fuzzy. He must have gotten a concussion from hitting the ground so hard just a moment ago. He thought about their faces one more time before drifting back into unconsciousness.

* * *

_"Get down!"_ Freddy hissed as he, Foxy, and Chica dove behind some crates.

The three of them had followed the path on the right in order to get to the back room. However, just as they entered a small storage room, they heard the opposite door open. Fortunately, there were enough crates and boxes for them to hide behind before they could be spotted.

_"Come out, come out, wherever you are~"_ they heard a voice say, almost sing. "I'm not gonna hurt you. Much."

The trio recognized the voice of Dr. Nero, but something seemed...off about it. It was happy, yet somehow nervous at the same time.

Foxy went to stand up, clearly with the intention of attack the black rabbit, but Freddy held him down. He shook his head at him silently. This was not the time to get rash; they were only two rooms away from where Bonnie was probably being held.

After several seconds of Nero walking around the room, he began to approach the crates where the three college students were hiding, forcing them to look for an escape route in panic.

Fortunately, it was dark enough that the black rabbit wouldn't be able to see them unless he was right in front of them. Having been in a similar situation with Bonnie and Foxy just earlier that week, Chica knew how to distract Dr. Nero long enough to get away. She reached into her bag and pulled out a baseball, tossing it out of the room and down the hallway from which they had come.

The ball bounced loudly on the concrete floors before rolling away. The professor turned his head and followed the noise, walking out of the room. Wasting no time, Chica, followed by Freddy and Foxy, quickly stood up and slipped through the other door.

However, just when it seemed they were in the clear, Foxy's bat swung from his bag and collided with the metal door with a loud _*clang*_.

Almost instantly, the three of them were flooded in light from behind. They turned around to see Dr. Nero pointing a flashlight at them, a look of absolute fury in his eyes.

"What the hell are you three doing here!" he shouted at them as he advanced, pulling out a knife.

"Run!" Freddy screamed, but as soon as they tried to run away from the black rabbit, they were grabbed by three men; a large black-haired human man held Freddy's wrists behind him, an Anthro horse placed one hoof over Chica's beak and the other around her neck, and an Anthro pig had grabbed Foxy from behind, pinning the fox's elbows to his chest.

The black rabbit approached the three students and inspected them carefully.

"Dr. Nero, why are you doing this?" Freddy cried, trying to pull free. "Where's Bonnie?"

"Drop the 'Dr'. I'm not even a real professor." Nero spat in Freddy's face. "I would have thought that at least you'd be smart enough to figure that out by now, Freddy, unlike your idiotic purple friend."

Foxy snarled at this, but was met with a knee to his back by the bovine that was holding on to him. He fell to his knees before the pig kicked him in the back of the head; the fox collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

"The thing is, I have certain goals that I wish to meet regarding our social structure." Nero explained as he began to pace, "You recall my feelings about human-Anthro integration that I shared in the first week? Well, as I said, integration is impossible in my eyes, and I plan to eradicate it here at the university. They've refused to listen to me up until now, but with the proper leverage, I'm certain they won't refuse my offer. And fortunately for me, there are several humans in the area who share my world view, which is why we have formed a temporary alliance; we have the exact same end goal."

"But, Nero," Freddy began, still struggling to get free, "even if you don't want us to live with humans, what will segregating the university even do to accomplish that? There are still hundreds of thousands of humans and Anthros that live together all over the country, not to mention the rest of the world. What difference will it make if one college is segregated or not?"

"Because this college was founded as a beacon of false hope." Nero responded, "If people realize that integration is even impossible here, then they will finally understand that we should stop fooling ourselves into thinking it's possible anywhere else."

Chica, meanwhile, had finally managed to get her beak free, though the horse kept a firm grip on her neck.

"But, why Bonnie?" Chica asked fearfully, "he's never done anything to hurt anyone. Why did you choose him?"

"Two reasons," Nero answered matter-of-factly, "First, I knew that he wouldn't put up much of a fight, seeing as how weak he is. Second, my employer instructed me to get him out of the way for a few hours."

_Employer?_ Freddy thought to himself. _What employer?_

"Why?" Freddy asked hesitantly, before wincing as the man twisted his wrists.

"He didn't say, but I didn't ask." Nero responded with a shrug. "Didn't really matter to me, to be honest. All I knew was that, if there was ever an opportunity to carry out my plan, now was the time. I could kill two birds with one stone; if I kidnapped Bonnie, then I would get all the resources I need as reward for helping him, and also the hostage I needed for my own plan.

"But YOU!" the black rabbit suddenly grew angry, "You decided to come here and ruin my plans! You could have completely jeopardized my entire operation. You decided that saving your precious Bonnie was more important than fixing our society."

"Fixing our society?!" Chica asked incredulously, "You're talking about going back to the days where discrimination was commonplace and regressing our society by almost half a century! Do you really think things would be better if you go through with this?"

"Shut up, don't act like you understand this!" Nero screamed as he slapped Chica in the face, causing Freddy to try and break free again, "You have no idea what it's like to see-"

Nero suddenly stopped speaking and collapsed to the ground as a loud _*clang*_ was heard. Foxy stood behind him with his bat; he had managed to quietly grab it and sneak behind Nero when he has talking, as the fox had feigned unconsciousness when he fell moments earlier.

Freddy and Chica used this opportunity to fight back as well, as the henchmen were still caught off guard by Foxy's sudden attack. Freddy twisted his body slightly to allow himself to kick the human in the stomach, who promptly let go of Freddy's wrists. Freddy grabbed his bat and hit the pig who had been holding Foxy in the head, while Chica bit down on the hoof of the horse who had just tried to cover her beak again. The horse cried out in pain, while Foxy hit the equine in the face with his bat. With Nero and his henchmen finally subdued, Freddy, Chica, and Foxy sprinted through the door, desperate to get Bonnie and get out of there before they woke up.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bonnie had woken up from hearing all of the commotion two rooms over. His chair had been repositioned so that he was upright once again, and facing the doorway. After hearing several shouts and a sounds of metal on concrete, the henchman guarding the rabbit, an Anthro snake, went to investigate, unaware that his prisoner had woken up again.

The reptile cautiously walked across the room, bearing a pair of small knives. Just as he opened the door, however, he was met with a baseball to the face, thrown by Freddy. A loud crack was heard and the reptile fell to the ground clutching his face and screaming in agony.

Freddy, Chica, and Foxy burst into the room, looking around for Bonnie desperately.

"BONNIE!" Chica cried when she saw her brother, and the three of them sprinted towards the purple rabbit tied to the chair.

"Oh my God..." Foxy whispered when he shined his light on him.

Bonnie was in bad shape. His face was covered in several bruises and cuts, and he had a bad gash on the top of his head that looked infected. One of his ears had a long cut from base to tip that looked like it had been deliberately made. The rabbit's light muzzle was bent at an odd angle, and the barely conscious rabbit was wheezing. Bonnie's already thin face was now even more boney and pale; he looked like he had been starved. His once-purple fur was now a macabre shade of red as a result of being drenched in his own blood.

Bonnie coughed weakly before looking at the source of the light.

"F-foxy..." he croaked as his eyelids drooped, "Chica. Freddy. Y-you guys came for me..."

Chica knelt down beside her brother while Freddy went to untie the ropes that bound the rabbit to the chair.

"Of course we did, Bon Bon," the bird whispered has she placed a wing on the rabbit's knee. "Your my baby brother, I couldn't bear to let anything happen to you."

"Here, let me see that cut of yours." Freddy said as he finally pulled the ropes off of Bonnie's wrists, allowing his paws to dangle at his sides. "Foxy, give my more light."

Foxy obliged, still shocked at the state Bonnie was in. Freddy pulled the first aid kit out of his backpack before inspecting the gash on the top of Bonnie's head and his ear.

"Yeah, it's definitely infected." Freddy confirmed as he pulled a rag and a large bottle of rubbing alcohol out of the kit. "We need to get you to a hospital as soon as we get out of here, but I'm going to try to stop it from getting any worse in the meantime. Hold still, this is gonna hurt."

Bonnie cried out in pain as Freddy rubbed the disinfectant on his forehead. Freddy winced; it was worse than he thought. He had to work fast.

Foxy, meanwhile, knelt down by Bonnie and took Bonnie's paw in his own free one.

"Don't focus on the pain Bonnie," Foxy tried to soothe the rabbit, "Just focus on the sound of my voice."

"N-nero. H-he..." Bonnie whimpered.

"Yes, we ran into him. He told us everything." Foxy replied as he tightened his grip on Bonnie's paw. "But we're going to the police once we get you out of here. He'll end up behind bars, he won't be able to hurt you or anyone else anymore. I promise."

Bonnie tried to nod, but winced in pain again.

"Hold still." Freddy commanded as he finished disinfecting the gash on his forehead and picked up a bandage.

"Listen, Bonnie," Foxy spoke again after a few seconds, "I know this may not be the best time, but there's something I need to tell you."

Foxy sighed before continuing.

"I l-"

"YOU!"

Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy turned their heads to the doorway to see Nero standing there holding a large, bloody butcher's knife in his right paw that he had likely found somewhere in the slaughterhouse.

"Freddy, we need to go!" Chica cried.

"I need to tend to these wounds first, Chica!" Freddy replied as he finished tying the bandage around Bonnie's forehead. "Foxy, go stall Nero. Chica, give me some light."

Chica nodded before standing up and shining her flashlight on Bonnie's ear, still holding his paw with her other wing.

Foxy looked sadly at Bonnie for a moment before turning off his own flashlight and facing Nero. As soon as he locked eyes with the black rabbit, all of the emotions that he felt as a result of Bonnie's kidnapping and torture came crashing down on him. The concern when Bonnie didn't show up for lunch on Wednesday. The fear when Foxy learned his life was in danger. The rage at seeing the man he loved tortured and starved by an unstable madman who simply saw him as an expendable pawn in his insane plans. He gave a vicious, feral growl before charging at Nero on all fours, snarling and bearing his fangs. He had no intention of simply stalling Nero; he was aiming to kill.

Unfortunately, Nero had the same intention. All of his work was riding on this one moment, and he wasn't about to let some 18 year old pests ruin his plans. The rabbit swung his butcher's knife at Foxy, but the young fox was too quick. He attempted to sink his teeth into Nero leg, but Nero, being a rabbit, managed to jump out of the way. The black rabbit landed on Foxy's back, stopping him mid lunge, and attempted to bring the cleaver down on his neck. Foxy, however, sunk his claws into Nero's left leg, causing him to drop the knife; it clattered away from the two fighting Anthros.

"Freddy, hurry up!" Chica pleaded, "I don't know how much longer Foxy can hold out against Nero."

Having just cleaned the wound on Bonnie's ear, Freddy dropped the bottle on the ground, which shattered, spilling rubbing alcohol all over the floor.

"Just give me about 10 more seconds." Freddy responded as he pulled the final bandage out of his bag.

Chica looked over at Foxy and Nero. Nero had managed to get the knife back, and was attempting to use it on Foxy; the red fox was still managing to dodge, but Nero was getting closer and closer with each swing. Foxy yelped in pain when one swing connected with his right paw, leaving a deep gash and sending blood spattering everywhere. However, Foxy had managed to lure Nero away from the door, leaving and escape route for Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica.

"Freddy!" Chica screamed.

"Done!" Freddy announced, zipping up his bag. "Come on, help me carry him. He's too heavy for me to lift on my own."

Chica nodded and lifted on of Bonnie's arms over her shoulder, while Freddy did the same. Freddy looked back at Foxy, who was moving much slowly now that he couldn't place his right paw on the ground.

"Foxy, let's go!" Freddy called out, but Foxy still still too engaged with Nero to notice, now being more aggressive and biting at the black rabbit.

"FOXY!" Chica screamed, louder this time.

Foxy looked over at Freddy and Chica, the same look of rage in his eyes as when he was fighting.

"You guys get Bonnie out of here!" Foxy yelled back, although with a new degree of aggression in his voice that Freddy and Chica had every heard. "I'll keep him occupied! I'll be right behind you, I swear."

Freddy and Chica hesitated; Foxy was at a huge disadvantage, being unarmed and injured. They didn't want to leave him alone with Nero.

"GO!" Foxy roared as he lunged at Nero, sinking his sharp fangs into the rabbit's left arm, causing his to scream and drop the knife again.

Freddy and Chica looked at each other uneasily before nodding and carrying Bonnie towards the door; there was no convincing Foxy otherwise, and getting Bonnie to safety had to be their number one priority.

By the time Freddy and Chica had carried Bonnie through the doorway, Foxy had managed to pin Nero down, his good paw clenched around the rabbit's neck. The red fox bared his fangs just inches in front of Nero's forehead.

"You son of a bitch," Foxy spat in Nero's face, "I will make you pay for pay for what you've done."

Nero suddenly began to laugh maniacally, making Foxy squeeze his neck tighter.

"Don't you understand, Foxy?" Nero bragged as he continued to laugh like a maniac, "Neither of us are getting out of here alive."

At that point, he pulled a smaller knife, which he had kept hidden in his right sleeve, and sliced it across Foxy's face, just missing his left eye. Foxy recoiled in pain, allowing Nero to get out from under him. However, instead of going for the cleaver, the rabbit crawled over to the chair.

Foxy, covering his left eye, leaned over to see what Nero was doing. The rabbit pulled out a matchbook and lit a single match before dropping it of the ground. The fire caught caught in the rubbing alcohol that Freddy had spilled earlier, which had now covered most of the floor. Almost instantly, the entire floor caught fire; fortunately, Foxy was far enough towards the edge that the fire stopped about 10 feet from him.

Nero, however, wasn't so lucky. He was right in the middle of the fire when he started it, and had made no effort to get away or protect himself. The black rabbit screamed in agony as the flames licked his skin, igniting his fur and melting chunks of flesh off of his body. Still, in spite of his agony, he seemed to almost be laughing as he burned alive. Not out of humor, but out of relief, relief to no longer live in a world that, in his mind, saw him as inferior.

Foxy meanwhile, had tried to stand up, but was unable to stop coughing. As smoke filled the air, and Foxy's lungs, he began attempting to crawl towards the door with just his injured front right paw, still covering his eye with his left paw. However, as Foxy began to lose more and more oxygen, he began to move slower and slower. As he finally collapsed on the ground of the burning slaughterhouse, he looked back at Nero. He had stopped screaming.

Foxy's last thoughts before darkness overtook him were of Bonnie.

_I wish I had told you sooner how much you meant to me. Now, I'll never get the chance._

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Wow guys, so sorry for the super late update! I've been super busy in the past week; I went out of town last weekend and then had exams and final projects before and after that, so I haven't really slept in like 7 days. Anyway, this was a tricky chapter to write, especially since it was kinda tough to get back into the swing of things after not writing at all for so long. That being said, the next few chapters should *fingers crossed* come a little sooner than this one did. :)**

**And, as always, thank you so much for all of the favorites, follows, and especially the reviews. I do read every review, and it really warms my heart to see all the kind words people have written about my story. To everyone who has left a review (and especially those who have left several): You guys rock! Thank you, thank you, thank you!**

**Anyway, see you guys next chapter!**

**P.S. - The new image on Scott Cawthon's website gave me a legitimate jump scare when I first saw it. Not sure how I'm going to handle the actual game if that's the case.**


	10. Aftershock

"Hold on guys, I think he's waking up."

Upon hearing a voice that sounded like Freddy's, Foxy attempted to open his eyes, only to quickly shut them again after they were flooded with artificial light. He was extremely dizzy and groggy, and his muscles felt stiff. The smell of disinfectant filled his sensitive nostrils; he tried to cough, but he felt a pain in his chest. The fox was in a reclined position, and felt a hard mattress underneath him and thin blankets covering him. He heard the sound of a heart rate monitor beside him. Even with his eyes closed, he knew exactly where he was: a hospital bed.

"Please, Foxy, we're right here," he heard a familiar female voice plead, "just wake up, please."

Foxy opened his eyes again, much more slowly this time. His vision was blurry, and after opening and closing each each a few times, he realized that he could only see with his left eye. There were several figures standing in the room, but he was having trouble distinguishing any of them as his eyes were still adjusting to the brightness. He looked to his left to see a blurry image of a white and pink vixen sitting beside him holding his left paw in both of her own.

"A-aunt Mangle?" He croaked out weakly; his throat was incredibly sore, almost as if it was burned.

"Yes, sweetie, I'm right here," the vixen replied with a smile as tears filled her eyes, "you're in the hospital. You're safe now."

As Foxy's vision started to clear up, he looked around the white room to see who else was there. Chica was standing on Foxy's other side, and Freddy had just stood up from a chair by the doorway. However, conspicuously absent was...

"Bonnie!" Foxy tried to sit up, but cried out in pain before lying back down.

"He's fine, he was discharged a couple of days ago. He's staying with our parents right now." Chica explained. "He's going to stay there for a night or two before he starts going to classes again. Try not to move; you sustained some pretty serious injuries in there."

Foxy took this opportunity to actually look himself over. He had a bandage over his right eye, and stitches just under his left eye. His right paw was completely covered in gauze and medical tape, making it appear as if it was just a nub. He was covered in bandages for the scars and burns all over his body.

"My eye," Foxy began hesitantly, "and my paw. Are they...?"

"No, you're OK," Chica explained, "Smoke and ash got inside the wound on your paw, and it caused a pretty bad infection. Same with your right eye. Fortunately, the doctor was able to stop the infection from spreading, but he still wanted to keep them bandaged up until they completely heal."

Foxy breathed a sigh of relief; sure, he liked to pretend he was a pirate when he was a pup, but he had no desire to wear a real eyepatch or hook now.

"Wait," Foxy asked, suddenly thinking of something, "why was only my right eye infected?"

"Well," Freddy answered, "you were still covering your left eye when you lost consciousness inside that room. The doctor said that's how you managed to protect that eye from the smoke."

Foxy suddenly thought back to that room, just before he lost consciousness. The sound of Nero screaming in agony and laughing hysterically. The sight of Nero burning alive in his own fire. The smell of Nero's burning and melting flesh. He wanted so badly to forget, but he knew that memory would stick with him for the rest of his life.

"Nero..." Foxy muttered as his eyes grew cloudy and distant.

"He was already dead by the time I got back," Freddy muttered, "there was nothing I could do."

Foxy took a closer look at Freddy upon realizing what the bear had said. Much off his fur appeared to have been singed off, especially on his arms, and he had his left arm in a sling.

_He really ran back into a burning slaughterhouse to save me? _Foxy thought to himself. _And after all of those horrible things I said to him?_

"Don't worry about him, Foxy," Mangle finally spoke again, having been overwhelmed with relief since Foxy woke up, "he can't hurt anyone ever again. He started that fire, and he died in it."

"I guess you know all about the Nero and the fire, then." Foxy guiltily remarked. He knew his aunt would be upset if she knew her only nephew had attempted something so dangerous. "I'm sorry."

"Foxy, don't be sorry," Mangle replied, "I'm just glad you're OK now. Besides, Freddy and Chica told me everything."

If Foxy wasn't hooked up to a heart rate monitor, he would have thought his heart skipped a beat. They didn't tell her about him and Bonnie, did they?

"The fact that you put your friend's needs ahead of your own is so brave," Mangle continued. "You really are so much like your father."

Foxy breathed a sigh of relief before looking over at Freddy and Chica, who both gave him reassuring glances; of course, they wouldn't have told her a secret like that. Foxy truthfully didn't know when he was going to come out of the closet to his aunt, or Bonnie for that matter, but now definitely didn't seem like the time or place.

"Besides," Chica piped in, "everyone in the state knows what happened that night. A university professor going insane and kidnapping a student, and then burning down a slaughterhouse? That kind of stuff doesn't go unnoticed, you know."

Chica walked over to the Foxy's bedside table and picked up a newspaper. She showed Foxy the headline on front page.

**_Fazbear University professor posthumously charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault._**

However, the thing on the paper that caught Foxy's eye was the date: Wed., Oct. 15, 2014. Bonnie had disappeared on Tuesday, Sept. 30th, and he, Freddy, and Chica went to rescue him on Friday, Oct. 3rd.

Foxy furrowed his brow. He knew something about the way Chica said "that night" seemed odd. Almost as if had happened a while ago.

"Chica," The fox asked, looking between Chica, Freddy, and Mangle, "How long have I out?"

Chica looked at the ground while Freddy scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. Mangle squeezed Foxy's paw tighter before answering.

"Foxy," Mangle replied slowly, "you've been in a coma for 2 weeks."

* * *

Bonnie was woken up by his phone vibrating on his bedside table. He slowly leaned over and grabbed it before looking at the screen; Chica was calling him. He quickly pushed _Answer_ and held the phone up to his ear.

"Hey," Bonnie quickly answered the phone, "have you heard anything?"

Chica had promised to call her brother if there was any change in Foxy's condition. Bonnie had stayed in the hospital for about a week and a half while he recovered from the ordeal; between being dehydrated, malnourished, having his nose broken, and two infected wounds that didn't get treatment until Freddy showed up, he could barely stay awake for more than a few hours at a time.

_"Foxy's awake."_ Bonnie heard his sister's voice on the phone. _"He's expected to make a full recovery, including his eye and paw. He does need to stay in the hospital for another week, though."_

Bonnie breathed a sigh of relief. If Foxy had sustained any permanent injuries while trying to rescue him, Bonnie would have never been able to forgive himself.

"That's good to hear," Bonnie replied as he took a sip of water that Bella had left for him, "tell him that I...well, tell him thank you, and that I'll come visit him as soon as I can."

_"Will do," _Chica replied, "_take care, Bonnie, I'll see you soon"._

Bonnie heard Chica hang up and he set the phone back down on his table. Of course, there was a lot more the rabbit wanted to tell Foxy besides "thank you", but that was a conversation he would rather to have in person. For now, though, he needed rest.

However, just as Bonnie was about to go back to sleep, his mother walked in his bedroom.

"Sweetie," Bella asked softly, sitting on Bonnie's bed, "how are you feeling?"

"Better." Bonnie lied as he took another sip of water. His expression suddenly grew pained as he looked at his mom with his maroon eyes.

"I've been having nightmares about that place, mom." The younger rabbit confessed as tears filled his eyes. "Every time I fall asleep, I relieve everything. The beatings, the pain, the fear. I just want to forget about it, but I don't know if I can."

Bella leaned over and pulled Bonnie into a gentle embrace, allowing her son to cry into her shoulder.

"Mom," Bonnie continued, "there's something that you need to know about Nero that I haven't told you yet."

"Bonnie," Bella began as she rubbed Bonnie's back, trying in vain to comfort her son, "You don't have to tell me anything, especially not about that horrible man."

"He was your brother."

Bella pulled away from Bonnie, giving him a confused look.

"Bonnie," Bella began, "I'm an only child. Besides, I was adopted, so even if I did have a brother, then I wouldn't-"

"He showed me a photograph." Bonnie interrupted, wiping tears from his eyes. "It was of him and you. I've seen your baby pictures, mom, and I'm positive that was you."

"Bonnie, you had a head injury," Bella continued, "and you lost a lot of blood. You must not be remembering properly."

"Mom, I remember this moment extremely vividly." Bonnie countered, "He told me that, when you guys were young, your parents were murdered so you went into foster care. About a year later, a species riot in your neighborhood resulted in the deaths of your foster parents. He said that two humans came and found you. I don't know why, but they took you with them, but left Nero behind. He was your brother, mom."

Bonnie finished and looked up at his mother. The female rabbit simply looked back at Bonnie.

"Bonnie," she asked, "Nero was a madman, so his word isn't exactly trustworthy. Even if he was telling the truth, what difference would it make?"

"I just thought you should know." Bonnie answered as he lied back down.

Bonnie took a deep breath and let out a sigh. He actually felt some relief having told his mother this; the thing that had disturbed the young rabbit the most was that he was being held by his biological uncle, who didn't even believe that he was that. Now that someone else knew, he didn't feel so alone. Soon afterwards, he felt his eyelids begin to droop as sleep overcame him.

Bella also let out a sigh before kissing Bonnie on the forehead and leaving the room. She needed time to think about what her son had just told her.

* * *

"Will do. Take care, Bonnie, I'll see you soon."

Chica hung up the phone and sighed. Somehow, she had managed to stay almost completely unscathed during the incident, save for the bruise on her neck that was almost gone by now. Freddy had some pretty bad burns and a dislocated shoulder from moving some burning debris when he went in to get Foxy. Foxy nearly lost a paw _and_ and eye, not to mention almost being burned alive like Nero. As for Bonnie...he was lucky to be alive according to the doctor. Apparently, the infection from his forehead and ear had started to spread, and he was so malnourished that his immune system wouldn't have been able to fight off the infection on its own. The doctor said that if he had arrived to the hospital just a few hours later, it would have been to late.

Chica sat down on a bench in the hallway, exhausted; she had hardly slept at all in the past two weeks. Any time she wasn't in class, she was visiting Bonnie and Foxy (and Freddy for the first couple of days) in the hospital. She had been fired from her job for stealing, but she didn't really care about that; as far as she was concerned, that just meant more time with her brother and friends. She could find another job.

She thought back to the day they all arrived at the hospital. As soon as Bonnie was in the emergency room, she had called her parents; regardless of how they might react, they had to at least know that their only son was in the hospital, alive, but maybe not for much longer.

As soon as Charles and Bella arrived in the hospital, Charles had attempted to scold Chica for her actions.

_"How could you attempt something so reckless?!" the rooster screamed. "You could have gotten you or your brother killed!"_

_"I couldn't just leave him there!" Chica screamed back, incredulous that her father was more concerned with Chica's actions than Bonnie's safety._

_"But why did you just call the police?" Bella asked through tears of hysteria. "Or even us? You guys didn't have to do this alone!" _

Chica sighed; she couldn't have told her parents why she didn't let them know sooner. If she even brought of Charles' alcoholism, then who knows how he could have reacted? Fortunately, her parents seemed to barely acknowledge Freddy's or Foxy's existence, being too caught up in Bonnie's wellbeing and Chica's actions to notice the other Anthro students that were in the neighboring rooms. Chica wanted to spare them the wrath of her father.

Meanwhile, Freddy was filling Foxy in on everything that had happened in the past 2 weeks.

Apparently, Freddy had run back into the building after he and Chica got Bonnie to safety. Some debris had collapsed in front of the room where Foxy and Nero were trapped, and Freddy ended up dislocating his shoulder trying to move it. Once the bear had reached the room, he grabbed the fox and pulled him over just one shoulder.

"Wait," Foxy asked, still trying to process everything Freddy had told him, "how did you manage to carry me on one shoulder when you couldn't even carry Bonnie alone at all?"

Freddy's face grew dark.

"My first guess was adrenaline, but I think there was more to it than that." Freddy responded, staring at the ground. "When I saw Nero's corpse in the center of the fire, and you lying unconscious just a few feet away from the fire, something in me just snapped. I felt feral and wild; rational thoughts of logic and reason were replaced with pure instinct. I had one goal in mind: get you out of there, and kill anyone or anything that got in my way. I was no longer Freddy Fazbear; I was just a bear."

Foxy shuddered upon hearing this, and exchanged an uneasy glance with Mangle. Foxy knew exactly what experience Freddy was describing, having been through it himself so many times before. Letting go of all rational thought and allowing your feral side take over was easy when you were emotional overwhelmed, Foxy knew that. The feeling of just letting the animal within take over was certainly a rush, but Foxy always felt guilty and ashamed afterwards. And now, it seemed that Freddy had shared in that experience.

"Fortunately, we were just a few hundred yards from that shoe store we saw on the map." Freddy continued quickly, wanting to change the subject, "Once all four of us were clear of the building, Chica ran there to get help. Fortunately, the night manager was still there, and she let Chica use their phone to call an ambulance. The paramedics arrived in no time and took all of us to the hospital."

"What about those henchmen?" Foxy asked. "Did they make it out?"

"They only found one body in the burning wreckage, and that was Nero's." Freddy responded. "The police think that they managed to slip away during all of the confusion. They're trying to track them down, but no luck so far."

Just at that moment, a nurse walked into the room.

"If everyone could please step out of the room," the siamese cat announced as she walked over to check Foxy's monitors, "Mr. Fox needs rest."

Freddy and Foxy nodded at each other, and Mangle kissed Foxy on the forehead before they both left the room, allowing Foxy to fall asleep once again.

* * *

Later, when Foxy woke up, he saw that he was alone. However, right before he went back to sleep, he heard a voice from the doorway.

"Foxy?" he heard the somewhat high pitched voice ask, "Are you awake?"

Recognizing the voice, Foxy looked over to the doorway and gave a huge grin upon seeing who it belonged to; it was Bonnie. The rabbit was in much better shape than when Foxy had last seen him: he looked far less emaciated and pale, and the scars on his head appeared to be healing well. Bonnie's nose even looked mended, although the lagomorph still wore a small bandage over his muzzle.

"H-hey." Foxy eventually greeted the rabbit, not really knowing what else to say. It was the first time the fox had seen him since he had woken up, and the first time he had seen him not beaten up since he had come to terms with him feelings for the rabbit.

"Chica said you have to stay in here another week." Bonnie said as he walked over to the chair beside Foxy's bed, smiling. "I'm sorry that you're stuck here, but I'm glad you're OK."

Foxy's smiled back as he laid his head back on the pillow, blushing slightly.

_He has such a cute smile._ Foxy thought to himself as he stared at the ceiling. _To think that he almost..._

He shuddered at the thought. No, Bonnie was safe. Nero was dead. There was nothing left to worry about.

Now however, there was an entirely different issue at hand. Foxy wanted to tell Bonnie how he felt, but he wasn't sure how Bonnie would react.

After a moment of silence, Foxy turned to Bonnie and began to speak again.

"Bonnie," the fox began nervously, "I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it, Foxy?" The rabbit replied, ears perking up.

"Uh," Foxy was hesitant, unsure of exactly what to say, "I wanted to ask you, if, um..."

"Yes?" Bonnie leaned in, getting closer to the fox.

"Would you stay with me for a while?" Foxy finally blurted out, "It's really lonely in here."

"Of course I will, Foxy," Bonnie answered, as he scooted his chair closer to the bed. "I would hate to see you alone right now."

Foxy smiled in relief as he lay his head back down on the pillow. He knew that he would eventually have to talk to Bonnie about how he felt, but for now, he was happy just knowing Bonnie was there.

* * *

Bonnie's presence made the next week much easier for Foxy. Mangle, Freddy, and Chica, would occasionally stop by, but since the former worked long hours and the latter two were in class all day, they were usually only around for an hour or two.

Bonnie, however, seemed to always be in Foxy's hospital room. Usually, he would come by to drop of any assignments that fox had missed (fortunately, all of Foxy's professors accepted "in a coma" as an acceptable excuse to miss class). After they finished their work, they would just sit and talk for hours. Foxy rather enjoyed this, as it made the discomfort of being bedridden in a hospital much more manageable.

One day, just as Bonnie was leaving to go to class, Freddy entered Foxy's room, having just gotten out of his own class. Freddy sat down where Bonnie had been sitting at looked at the fox.

"How are you holding up?" Freddy asked his friend.

"I'm alright," Foxy replied, readjusting his position in bed. "Recovering. How's the arm?"

"I can take the sling off tomorrow," Freddy replied, gesturing to the injured arm. "Though it really hasn't been that bad. I'm right-pawed, so I didn't have any trouble writing or anything like that. Dr. Schmidt _was_ kinda pissed that I left his seminar to steal from the nurse, but oh well."

Foxy chuckled, before suddenly giving Freddy a much more serious look.

"Freddy," Foxy began slowly, "I never thanked you for saving my life back there. If I had just come with you guys when you asked me to, then you wouldn't have been injured, and I wouldn't be here, and-"

"Foxy," Freddy interrupted, "you're one of my best friends. Yes, we have our disagreements, but that doesn't change the fact that I care about you. Before I met you, I was a coward. I always hid behind books and calculators, since they weren't dangerous. If I had a problem that I couldn't fix by being smart, then I just let someone else deal with it. However, you taught me how to be brave. There's no way I would have left you in there, and I would do it all over again."

Foxy smiled upon hearing this.

"Thank you, Freddy."

"By the way," Freddy continued in a lower voice, looking around to be sure that they were alone, "have you told Bonnie what you told me and Chica yet?"

Foxy stared off to the side, breaking eye contact with Freddy.

"No," the fox replied glumly, "I haven't."

"Why not?" The bear asked, somewhat surprised.

"Because I don't want to drive him away." Foxy replied sadly, "especially not right now. His visits are the highlight of my day, and if I tell him I love him and he doesn't feel the same way, then I could lose him."

"Foxy," Freddy continued, "you're going to have to tell him eventually."

"I know," Foxy replied, "but I'm just scared. I haven't told anyone besides you and Chica that I'm gay yet, not even my aunt. I mean, she's never shown signs that she's homophobic or anything, but I've still never been comfortable even bringing the subject up around her, so I have no idea how she would react. Besides, I've learned in the past couple of months that not everyone is as accepting of minorities as I once believed. I don't know if I want to give people _another_ reason to treat me differently.

"The thing is," the fox continued, "if I knew Bonnie felt the same way, it would be different. Then, I wouldn't have to face it all alone. The thing is, I don't want to lose Bonnie as a friend completely. I don't know what to do."

Freddy sighed. He hated to see Foxy stuck with an impossible decision, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help. After all, it's not like he could remotely understand what the fox was going through.

"Foxy," Freddy began, "I can't make this decision for you, but know that Chica and I are here if you need us. I wish I could be of more help."

"Thank you, Freddy." Foxy answered, smiling at the bear, "that means a lot."

Freddy stood up, patted the fox's shoulder with his paw, and walked out of the room.

When he reached the end of the hallway, he saw Chica as she entered the building.

"How is he?" Chica asked, stepping to the side of the hallway.

"He's doing better," Freddy replied. "but he still hasn't told anyone else that _thing_ he told us."

Chica silently nodded. She figured as much, but she hated to be the one of the only one's who knew a secret like that.

"Actually," Freddy continued, "there is something I've been meaning to talk you about. About us."

Chica sighed; she knew this was coming, but she still didn't want to have this conversation.

"Can we go outside?" Chica asked, looking around the crowded lobby. "Get some privacy?"

Freddy nodded and the two Anthros stepped outside.

Once they sat down at a bench, Freddy began to speak.

"Chica," the bear began, "I know things have been kinda weird between us, after the thing with the socks, and Chelsea, but I didn't want to think about it with Bonnie and Foxy in danger."

Chica just nodded as she listened to the bear.

"The thing is," Freddy continued, "I've had time to think about it more carefully now that they're OK, and I realized that I do like you, as more than just a friend. And I don't know if you feel the same way, but I wanted to tell you that I do have feelings for you, and I think I have since we first met."

Chica was silent, still processing everything Freddy had just told her.

"So," Freddy spoke again after a few seconds, "would you like to go out sometime? I mean, not just as friends, but on an actual date?"

"No." Chica answered almost immediately, not breaking eye contact.

"Oh," Freddy stared at the ground. "I mean, if you don't like me, then I guess-"

"It's not that!" Chica quickly interrupted, causing Freddy to look up. "It's just that I don't think I want that kind of relationship with you. I mean, you were the first real friend outside of my family that I ever made, and I don't want to mess that up. I want to be friends with you, Freddy, but that's it. Can you accept that?"

Freddy looked into Chica's purple eyes for a moment before responding.

"Yes," Freddy lied, as he stood up and walked away without looking back, shoulders hunched.

The truth was that Freddy was heartbroken. He had denied it to his dad, but he had held romantic feelings for Chica ever since she first comforted him during orientation. Now, after almost two months, he had finally worked up the courage to tell her how he felt, and she had rejected him with almost no hesitation. Yes, he enjoyed being friends with her, but he still wanted something more.

As he walked away, a single tear fell from his eye.

Chica sat on the bench, just as upset as Freddy. She started to cry herself.

_Why couldn't I just sat yes?_ she thought to herself. _Of course I have feelings for Freddy, and I would love nothing more than to go out with him. And yet, the thought of going on a date with anyone terrifies me. Am I really that afraid of letting anyone get too close to me?_

Chica wiped her tears from her eyes and walked back into the hospital. Regardless of her relationship with Freddy, she needed to be there for Bonnie right now.

* * *

"YOU IDIOT!"

Bradley Lago was knocked to the ground when he felt a human fist collide with his face. The blue rabbit hit the ground with a _*thud*_ before looking up at the man who had struck him. They were in a small, dark room, with the only light source being a hanging lamp in the middle of the ceiling; Brad could just barely make out a dark figure standing over him, but he could clearly see the white mask upon his face.

"You could have jeopardized our entire operation!" The masked man scolded, ready to assault the lagomorph in front of him again.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. P." Brad whimpered, covering his face with his arms as he lay on the cold, hard floor, "I had no idea Nero would go rogue like that!"

The man kicked Brad in the side, causing the blue rabbit to cry out in pain.

"We're lucky Nero didn't _kill_ Bonnie!" Mr. P. shouted as he turned away from the rabbit, "Who knows how that would have affected Foxy emotionally. And need I remind you how important it is that he join us willingly?"

Brad had managed to sit up, still clutching his side where he had been kicked.

"L-look, I know this looks bad," Brad began hesitantly, "but I do have a backup plan. If I can just get Ted to-"

"Shut up!" Mr. P. swiftly turned around to face Brad, causing the rabbit to wince, "It was your plan to trust Nero that got us into this mess. You knew how mentally unstable that rabbit was; we all did. You should have known better than to trust him blindly like that; there was no telling what he would do!

"Regardless," he continued, suddenly calmer, "I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. Clearly, our original approach is inherently flawed, as Foxy appears to have grown closer to Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica than we had initially thought. Trying to tear them apart has proven to be much more difficult than we had anticipated."

"So, what do we do?" Brad asked as he slowly stood up. "Keep trying to pit them against each other and hope one of them eventually snaps?"

"No," Mr. P. answered, "I don't think that's going to work. Those four seem to share a stronger friendship than I've ever seen before. No, driving them apart by conventional means seems impossible at this point."

"So what, we just do nothing?" Brad asked, annoyed.

"Not at all," Mr. P replied. Brad couldn't see the man's face behind the mask, but he could have sworn he grinned, "We use their bond against them. You saw what they did for Bonnie when he was kidnapped; I'd be willing to bet that Foxy would join us in a heartbeat if it meant protecting his friends. All friends have their secrets; Foxy must know something about one of the others that they wouldn't want to come to light. Your job is simple: find one of these secrets, and use it as blackmail. Even you should be able to handle that."

Brad nodded quickly as he turned to leave. Mr P., however, stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Do not disappoint me again, Bradley. You know what happens if you do."

Brad stood there silently for a moment before leaving, shutting the door behind him.


	11. A Time for Us

Freddy idly flipped through pages of the engineering textbook on his desk, trying in vain to study for Dr. Schmidt's engineering midterm. However, the events of the past few weeks had had made it difficult to concentrate on the functions of simple machines.

Accepting that he wasn't going to get any studying done right now, the bear closed the book on his desk and leaned back in his chair. He ran his paws through the fur on his head as he pondered everything that had happened during the month of October.

Freddy considered Bonnie to be his best friend. After the bear had met him and his sister the day he moved in, the bear couldn't help but realize that, in spite of their vastly different backgrounds, they actually had a lot in common. Besides, with the exception of Foxy, Bonnie hung out with Freddy more than anyone else, even his sister. One time, the two had stayed up all night and tag-teamed the entirety of the original _Legend of Zelda_ for the NES. It took them about 5 hours, starting at midnight, and they had become progressively more and more delirious as they became more and more sleep deprived.

Freddy smiled at the memory, but sighed upon remembering Bonnie's kidnapping, and the clues that had led them to him. Someone who chose only to go by BB not only knew that Bonnie was kidnapped, but also where and by whom he was taken. Freddy thought of anyone he knew with the initials BB, but only two people came to mind: Bonnie and his mother, Bella. This was a dead end, since Bonnie obviously didn't send those notes himself, and his mother was the one who was most worried when Chica had called their parents; besides, even if Bella had known about Bonnie's kidnapping, she wouldn't have any justification for leaving cryptic clues as to his whereabouts.

_Then who is BB?_ Freddy thought to himself. _Why was he so keen on not only saving Bonnie, but also keeping his identity hidden?_

Another part of the incident with Nero that befuddled Freddy was Nero's mention of his "employer". Who could he have been referring to? And why had he instructed Nero to get Bonnie out of the way? Freddy thought back to the two men that had broken into his room. They were looking for something, and, according to Bonnie, Nero had interrogated him about a book. What book were they talking about?

Of course, all of that seemed of minute importance when Freddy had called his father after being admitted into the hospital. Frederick was furious that his son had attempted something so dangerous, and hadn't even given Freddy a chance to fully explain the situation, and why they didn't just call the police. Fortunately for Freddy, his father was out of the country meeting with a prospective investor, so the older bear couldn't come down to the hospital and scold Freddy in person.

Still, this was odd to Freddy. His father was normally cool and collected, and even stayed calm on the phone when Freddy had said he was in the hospital for a dislocated shoulder. However, once Freddy started talking about Nero and BB, Frederick grew furious. In fact, he was angrier than Freddy had ever heard him, but why?

Freddy shook his head, which was spinning with all of the questions that were going through it right now. However, the bear had one thing on his mind that stood above all else:

Chica.

Freddy didn't understand it. Everything had been going great between them, until the day when she came to his room and...yeah. And after Chica had walked in on Chelsea seducing Freddy, she had run away crying. To Freddy, he thought that this meant Chica had feelings for him, and was upset to see him with another woman. Except now, Chica had told Freddy that she only wanted to be friends with him. Did she used to like him, but had since gotten over him? Was it because he had waited until after Bonnie was safe to tell Chica how he felt? He hoped not since, honestly, he thought that being selfless and putting Bonnie's safety before his own feelings would put him in Chica's favor and make her _more_ likely to go out with him. Apparently not.

_Why do women have to be so complicated?_ Freddy thought to himself as he stood up to walk outside; he needed to take a walk.

The bear walked around the campus, which was currently nearly deserted since everyone was inside studying for midterms right now. Freddy was grateful for this, since he had received even more unwanted attention than he already had ever since he, Chica, and Foxy had rescued Bonnie. News of the incident had spread quickly, including that one of the students had dislocated his shoulder. When Freddy had shown up with his arm in a sling, everyone had put two and two together. Being able to walk around without all of the stares and whispers was a pleasant change of pace for Freddy.

As Freddy wandered around the cool, windy campus with his paws in his jacket pockets, he thought again about BB and Nero. For some reason, someone very close to the University had taken an interest in Freddy and his friends, and based on the incident with Nero, their intentions probably weren't benevolent. Freddy shuddered; something dark was going on here at Fazbear University, and he and his friends were caught right in the middle of it.

* * *

After a week of being awake in the hospital, Foxy was finally discharged and allowed to return to his dorm; however, he still couldn't go back to classes for another week, since the doctor had told him to stay in bed and let his body recover from the infection. His aunt was out of town on a business trip the weekend Foxy was discharged, so Bonnie had helped the fox get from the hospital to Scott, since he didn't have class on Fridays.

Foxy sat in the passenger's seat of his car while Bonnie drove, since the fox still wasn't cleared to drive. Bonnie was very focused on what he was doing, having not driven in several months (since he and Chica graduated high school in May). This left Foxy alone with his thoughts.

_I have to tell him now, right? _The canine thought to himself as he stared out the window. _I'm out of the hospital, and Freddy's right. Even if he doesn't feel the same way, I should still tell him. I'll only make thins worse if I try to delay the inevitable._

Foxy glanced over at the rabbit, who was staring straight ahead on the road with wide, unblinking eyes. There were no other cars in sight, but Bonnie was still pretty antsy, having not fully emotionally recovered yet.

Foxy sighed as he looked over at the tense rabbit.

_Poor guy. Still, he's just as cute as ever, even when he's on edge like this._ Foxy mused. _Especially the way his ears perk straight up when he's really focused. I wonder if he realizes he does it?_

"What're you so happy about?" Bonnie asked, snapping the fox out of his thoughts. Foxy blushed upon realizing that he had been smiling at Bonnie for the past several seconds.

"Oh, uh," Foxy stuttered out, "I'm just glad to finally be out of the hospital."

Bonnie just nodded as Foxy looked out the window.

_Come on Fawkes, pull it together._ Foxy thought to himself, annoyed. _Just tell him. You can do this._

Foxy took a deep breath, but Bonnie spoke before the fox could say anything.

"We're here."

Foxy looked out the window to see that they were indeed parked in front of Scott and Cawthon; he hadn't really been paying attention to where they were going.

Foxy pushed open his door and slowly stepped out of the car, while Bonnie did the same. Foxy grabbed the pair of crutches that the doctor had given him to help him get around before closing the car door; the fox didn't have any specific injuries that prevented him from walking normally, but he was still extremely weak from being in bed for 3 weeks (and comatose for 2 of them).

Foxy and Bonnie reached the walkway between their respective dorms, when Bonnie turned to Foxy.

"Do you need any help getting to your room?" Bonnie asked, his ears perking up.

_Yes, please stay with me._ Foxy thought.

"No, I think I got it." Foxy lied, "There's an elevator in the building, so I don't have to go up any stairs or anything."

Bonnie ears drooped.

"OK," the purple rabbit replied, "well, I guess I'll see you later, then. Text me or call me if you need anything."

"Sure." Foxy replied as he walked/limped over to the door of his building. "See you."

Bonnie watched Foxy enter his dorm while his ears still drooped.

_It's my fault this happened._ Bonnie thought to himself glumly, as he turned to face his own dorm. _I'm so sorry, Foxy. I wish I could make it up to you somehow._

Bonnie sighed as he entered his building. There was nothing to be done now, and he was just relieved that both he and Foxy were still alive.

* * *

Chica looked up at the faded PIZZA sign and groaned. She needed to find another job since she got fired from her old one, but nowhere in town would hire her deeming her "untrustworthy". All of her potential employers had of course heard all the details of the "Nero incident", which it had come to be known by the locals, yet they only seemed to care about the part where Chica stole merchandise from her workplace, and then proceeded to leave said merchandise inside of a burning building. The chicken tried to explain time and time again the reason she did what she did, but it didn't seem to work.

The unemployed bird was now down to pretty much only one option: the pizza place her brother worked at. The issue with this was that she would (obviously) be working with her brother. Why was this an issue? Freddy.

Chica felt heartbroken when she had rejected Freddy's confession of his feelings, especially since the issue wasn't simply that she didn't feel the same way. Actually, she did feel the same way, and wanted to say yes more than anything. However, the thought of being in a romantic relationship scared her more than anything, especially with someone she cared about.

Chica had grown up defending her brother from bullies, and as a result, she was always putting Bonnie's feelings ahead of her own. Bonnie was a very emotional person, which meant that she had to be the opposite in order to make people leave him alone. Years and years of bottling up her own emotions for the sake of her brother had led to her developing her harsh, abrasive personality and dry, sarcastic sense of humor. She didn't trust easily, since everyone who had wanted to be her "friend" in high school only did so with the hope that she would turn a blind eye next time they tried to pick on her brother. One of these "friends", an Anthro monkey a year below Bonnie and Chica, had made the mistake of telling Chica to choose between him and her brother when he had stolen Bonnie wallet and climbed a tree with it; he now has way to many false teeth for a 17 year old.

Eventually, Chica reached the point where she felt unable to trust anyone, and found it easier to simply shut out everyone else except for Bonnie. This had earned her a reputation of being a "cold-hearted bitch", as one Anthro horse in her high school chemistry class had so kindly put it. And up until August, Chica was perfectly content to be just that: a cold-hearted bitch. As long as everyone knew not to mess with her brother, she was perfectly content.

Then, she met Freddy, and everything changed. He was kind, funny, smart, good-looking, and most importantly, quickly became best friends with her brother. Now, Chica really didn't have to worry about protecting Bonnie from him, and was interested in becoming closer to Freddy. However, years of burying her emotions inside of her to make herself look stronger has cause the bird to practically forget how to be nice. Chica didn't _want_ to feel emotions. She didn't _like_ to feel emotions. They made her feel weak. She couldn't even work up the courage to say yes to a simple date.

This was why she didn't want to work with Bonnie. She didn't resent her brother, not at all. However, Chica was worried that spending so much time with him would remind her of how she broke Freddy's heart, and she didn't know if she could handle the guilt. She could push it down just like everything else, but that would probably make things worse in the long run.

Chica sighed and walked inside; emotional wreck or not, the girl needed a job.

Chica was about to walk down the stairs when she noticed another door inside the small lobby that she hadn't seen before. She thought back to the last time she was here, and remembered that there was a potted plant that obscured it before.

Curious, Chica walked over to the door and tried to turn the handle. Unsurprisingly, it was locked, but as Chica jiggled the lock a few times, she heard a voice behind her.

_"Hello."_

Chica whipped her head around to see no one there.

"I-is someone there?" she asked tentatively. She hoped no one was in the hallway downstairs to gear her.

The only noises the bird heard was the ticking of the clock on the wall and the sound of her own breathing.

However, she was positive that she heard it: a child's voice.

* * *

The next week, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica had returned to their normal routine of going to class and studying, with the occasional journey into town to shop or eat. With midterms coming up soon, Chica spent a lot of time at the library (mostly to avoid Chelsea), which Freddy and Bonnie studied silently in their room.

Foxy, however, was still stuck in bed most of the time. He was allowed to walk down the hall to use the bathroom, and could sit at his desk to eat the food that he had to get delivered (usually pizza or Chinese), but that was it. The rest of the time, he just lied in bed, bored out of his mind except to change his bandages. Fortunately, Ted was rarely around, but even when he was, he was unusually nice to his roommate, doing things like bringing him water or helping in up or down from his bed. Foxy just assumed that the small bear felt bad that his roommate was hurt, and just wanted to help him however he could.

Another benefit to this situation was that it gave the fox a lot of privacy and time to think about Bonnie. One one hand, he wanted to call him and tell him everything: about how had had fallen for him the day Bonnie had, well, fallen because of him, and about Bonnie disappearing made Foxy realize how he really felt. If Bonnie felt the same way, then being hospitalized would have been worth it. Even if he didn't, then it would still be a load off of Foxy's chest, and they could probably go back to being friends. On the other hand, however, Bonnie could flat-out reject him. Foxy didn't know how he would be able handle that, or the backlash that may occur because of it. Foxy had been perfectly content to stay in the closet until about a month ago; now, he was more afraid than ever to come out, but at the same more confident than ever if it meant being with Bonnie.

Foxy restlessly turned over in his bed; he was confused and scared and frustrated, but had no one to turn to. Sure Freddy and Chica said they would be there for him, but, like Freddy said, they can't decide for him.

However, things finally started to look up for Foxy on Halloween night, exactly 4 weeks after he, Freddy, and Chica went to save Bonnie. This was the day that he was finally cleared to be up and about. Halloween was one of Foxy's favorite holidays of the year, since Foxy had a sweet tooth and loved getting bags full of free candy. He also loved to dress up, and always won local costume contests when he was in high school. And this year, he had the perfect costume...

At about 8 pm, Bonnie knocked on the door of Scott 321. He had agreed to go with Foxy to the "Fazbear Fright" Halloween party that took place in the Scott-Cawthon quad, right behind their respective dorms. Every year, the student activities committee set up tables, candy, and decorations in the quad with help from donations and volunteers from alumni. It was actually a pretty big deal, and had apparently been happening since at least the 80s, since Freddy's dad went all 4 years he was in school.

After a few seconds, Foxy opened the door dressed as a pirate. He had an eyepatch over his bad eye, which had almost completely recovered, and a hook which he had taped to his still-bandaged bad paw using the medical tape the hospital had provided. He wore a red jacket over a ratty white dress shirt he had bought from Goodwill years earlier, as well as brown pants and boots. He had a cutlass sheathed in his a holster on his belt.

Upon seeing the fox's strangely appropriate costume, Bonnie cracked up.

"Oh my God!" Bonnie cried as he keeled over laughing.

"I mean," Foxy replied, laughing slightly himself, "I figured this was too good of an opportunity to pass up."

"Wait," Bonnie asked as he stood back up, "when did you even have time to get all this stuff?"

"I actually had planned to wear this costume back when I packed for college months ago," Foxy replied with a shrug, "Lucky me, I guess."

Bonnie just shook his head at this, amazed at how the fox had actually managed to get them both to _laugh_ about the Nero incident.

_Wow, he really can find humor in anything. _The purple rabbit thought. _That's probably one of the reasons why I-_

"Nice costume yourself." Foxy pointed out, gesturing to the rabbit's costume and snapping him out of his thoughts.

The purple rabbit had dressed as a vampire. He wore black pants, a white shirt, and a red vest, as well as a long black cloak. However the part of Bonnie costume that caught Foxy's eye was the the red bow tie around his neck.

_He needs to wear bow ties more often. _Foxy thought to himself. _He looks good in them._

"That bow tie looks good on you." Foxy muttered, turning his head in an attempt to hide his blush.

"Aw, thanks," Bonnie replied as he flicked it a couple of times with his paw.

"Anyway," Foxy said suddenly, snapping Bonnie out of his thoughts, "we should probably get going."

Bonnie nodded in agreement and the two set off for the party.

* * *

As soon as the pirate fox and vampire bunny stepped outside, they were immediately met with ear-splitting music blaring from a nearby speaker. The two turned to look at the quad to see the somewhat small area packed with at east a few hundred people dancing, eating, drinking, and shouting, all dressed in different costumes.

Bonnie looked up at Foxy and raised an eyebrow apprehensively; he was immediately skeptical of how much fun this party would actually be. He had been to exactly one college party so far: he and Freddy had gone to a party hosted by the latter's father's fraternity (per Frederick's insistence). While they were there, they couldn't even carry on a conversation because of how loud the music was, and Bonnie could barely walk around without stepping on a cup, plate, or someone's foot/paw. He had feeling that this would be even worse.

"Let's at least give it a chance!" Foxy yelled over the music as the walked towards the mass of people.

"Are you sure?!" Bonnie yelled back as he covered his ears. His long rabbit ears were also more sensitive than normal, even by Anthro standards, and they were already starting to ring. "I don't want you re-injuring yourself somehow!"

"I'll be fine!" Foxy called back as he stepped ahead of the rabbit. He had been in a bed for a month, and he wanted to just _do_ something.

Bonnie shrugged and follow the fox, but kept his paws plugged inside of his ears.

However, as the two neared the crowd of people, and with it even more speakers blaring music, the pain in his ears became almost unbearable for the rabbit. Bonnie tapped Foxy on the shoulder, causing him to turn around.

"I can't handle the noise!" Bonnie shouted, although he was barely audible at this point, "I'm gonna go back inside!"

Bonnie turned to walk (more like jog) back to Cawthon, but, when he reached the walkway between the two dorms, Bonnie turned around to see that Foxy was right behind him.

"You don't have to leave too," Bonnie said, finally able to lower his voice slightly, "you're the one who wanted to go to the party in the first place, you should stay and have fun."

"The noise was starting to get to me too." Foxy replied. Of course, this wasn't the whole truth. Foxy really only wanted to go to the party if he was going to be there with Bonnie.

"Do you want to do something else?" the fox asked, still hoping that he could spend the evening with Bonnie.

Bonnie grinned, revealing that he was also wearing fake fangs. However, these weren't the colored plastic fangs that were inside children's gift bags; they looked real, and made Bonnie even more irresistible to the fox.

_Well, _Foxy thought to himself, shuddering slightly, _I guess I know what I'm "into" now._

"Do you want to just take a walk in the woods?" Bonnie asked, ears perking up.

Upon hearing this, Foxy's tail began wagging so fast it could would have taken someone's legs out of from underneath them if they were walking by.

"Y-yeah, that sounds great!" Foxy replied excitedly. Alone in the woods with Bonnie, it was a dream come true!

Bonnie smiled before turning to his dorm.

"I'm gonna bring my guitar, is that OK with you?" Bonnie asked Foxy as he opened the door to Cawthon, "I haven't had much of a chance to play it recently."

"Sure." Foxy replied, still beaming as Bonnie walked inside. He loved hearing Bonnie play, especially when he also sang.

After a few minutes, Bonnie returned with his guitar in paw, and the two made their way to the woods, careful to go around the large crowd of people.

* * *

Foxy and Bonnie didn't talk as they walked through the woods, but they didn't mind. Once they had gotten away from the noise of the party, they enjoyed just listening to the sounds of nature. Crickets chirped and the occasional squirrel or deer would rustle some leaves on the ground, but nothing too loud or startling. The moon was full that night, and the light reflected off of the red and gold leaves. It was so peaceful, and kept Bonnie's and Foxy's minds off of the events of the past month.

As they walked slowly through the trees, Foxy glanced over at Bonnie, who had a serene look on his face. The scars were barely visible in the dim light; you wouldn't have even known anything had happened just by looking at him. Foxy just smiled in relief; it was the first time he had seen Bonnie truly happy since he had been kidnapped. The fox thought about telling Bonnie right then and there how he felt, but decided just to enjoy the moment.

Bonnie, meanwhile, appeared to be wandering aimlessly, but was in fact following a specific path which he had figured out in the past week. There was something he wanted to show Foxy on his first night out, but Foxy had insisted on going to the party earlier. Bonnie was planning on taking Foxy there after the party, but was worried Foxy would be too tired; he was glad Foxy agreed to accompany him now.

"Bonnie," Foxy began softly, not wanting to disrupt the tranquillity, "where exactly are we going?"

"It's a surprise." Bonnie answered with a wink as they continued walking.

This only made the fox more curious, but he decided not to push it further. As long as he was with Bonnie, he didn't care where they were.

Eventually, after several minutes of walking, they reached a thicket of bushes that seemed to stretch in both directions, as if they were encircling something large. The view beyond the bushes was obstructed by some hanging moss and vines.

"We're here." Bonnie announced as he stepped through the bushes.

Curious, Foxy followed Bonnie through the thicket, pushing some moss to his side. When he reached the other side, he was met with a breathtaking sight.

Bonnie had brought him to the lake. The lake stretched for seemed like miles, the clear, still surface providing a perfect reflection of the starry sky and full moon. The lake shore was surrounded by trees on all sides giving it a feeling of being isolated from the rest of the world. The grass from the forest seamlessly turned into fine sand that bordered the lake itself. The lake was so clean and pure; there had clearly been very little human or Anthro presence here.

"Wow," Foxy gasped as he took everything in, "it's beautiful."

He then turned to Bonnie.

"How did you even find this place?" Foxy asked Bonnie, still in awe of the natural beauty of the lake.

"It's on the map," Bonnie answered matter-of-factly, "but still no one ever comes here. I think it's because it's so well hidden but the moss and vines, so you have to _really_ look to find it. I figured it would be a good place for us to go and try to forget about everything, especially now that you're up and around again..."

Bonnie's voice trailed off as he stared out over the edge of the lake. After a few seconds, Foxy slowly sat down to the right of Bonnie; he still wasn't used to being on his feet for so long.

"Will you sit with me?" Foxy asked, looking up at the rabbit.

"Of course." Bonnie replied with a smile as he sat down next to the fox, still holding his guitar.

They admired the scenery for a few more minutes until Foxy eventually decided to lie on his back. Before he did that, however, he had to remove his fake sword and sheath from his belt and set them by his side. This unfortunately was more difficult than Foxy had expected. It took to the Foxy a good minute to figure out how to undo the clasp with only one working paw, especially in the dark. All the while, he was oblivious to Bonnie giggling softly as Foxy tried his best to not draw attention to himself.

Finally free of his fake weapon, Foxy lied down, enjoying the feeling of the cool grass and crunchy leaves against the fur on the back of his neck. After a few seconds of this, Foxy heard Bonnie start to play his guitar. It was a soothing tune that Foxy recognized from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. Foxy closed his eyes and let his tail slowly swish back and forth in contentment. He barely noticed that the rabbit had begun to softly sing along with his playing.

_"A time for us someday there'll be_

_When chains are torn by courage born of a love that's free_

_A time when dreams so long denied can flourish_

_As we unveil the love we now must hide~"_

Foxy smiled to himself. Bonnie's light tenor voice was so soothing, even more so now that there was nothing else besides it.

_"A time for us at last to see_

_A life worthwhile for you and me~"_

Foxy open his good eye to steal a glance at the rabbit. Bonnie's eyes were closed, and he had seemingly blocked out everything else around him, being completely absorbed in his singing and playing.

_"And with our love through tears and thorns_

_We will endure as we pass surely through every storm_

_A time for us some day there'll be_

_A new world a world of shining hope for you and me~"_

Bonnie's voice slowly faded to nothing as the song ended, but he continued to play. Eyes still closed, Foxy began to sing as Bonnie continued to play.

_"Un giorno sai, per noi verrá_

_la libertá di amarci qui senza limiti._

_E fiorirá il sogno a noi negato_

_si svelerá l'amor ce l'ha t'ormai~"_

Bonnie was surprised to hear Foxy's deep, baritone voice (singing in Italian, no less), but continued to play; he wanted to hear more.

_"Un giorno sai, per vivere_

_la vita che ci sfugge qui~"_

Bonnie was dumbstruck, but managed to keep playing regardless. He had never heard Foxy sing before, but he was amazed! His voice was so rich and resonant, and the Italian rolled off his tongue so naturally. He sounded like he had been trained his entire life, yet somehow Bonnie had never heard him before.

_L'amore noi supererá_

_Io stacco lí e le maree dell'avversitá_

_E ci stará anche per noi nel mondo_

_Un tempo in cui l'amore vincerá~"_

As Foxy finished the song, he realized that Bonnie had stopped playing as well. The fox opened his eyes to see that Bonnie was staring at him. Foxy immediately blushed upon gazing into Bonnie's bright red eyes, not even caring if Bonnie saw at this point; he wanted the rabbit to know how he felt.

"I never you could sing," Bonnie began, setting his guitar to his side and blushing slightly himself, "or speak Italian."

"Well, I moved around a lot as a kid before my parents died," Foxy replied, sitting up, "my dad was stationed in Italy for about 4 years, so I learned some Italian when I was very young. I guess it just stuck with me over the years, even though I don't speak it as well as English."

"Well, regardless," Bonnie continued, scooting closer to Foxy, "you have a beautiful singing voice."

"Th-thanks," Foxy stammered, caught off guard by Bonnie's advance, "I don't like to sing in front of people very often, since I'm kinda self-conscious about my voice."

Bonnie edged ever closer so that the two were practically touching. The rabbit took Foxy's good paw in his own, making Foxy's heart race. Bonnie caressed the fox's cheek with his other paw for a few seconds before removing his eyepatch so he could look into both of Foxy's yellow eyes as he leaned in closer to the fox.

_"Don't be."_ Bonnie whispered before kissing Foxy on the lips, wrapping his free paw gently around Foxy's neck. Surprised, but not at all upset, Foxy wrapped his other arm around the rabbit as he kissed back, careful not to accidentally stab Bonnie with his hook.

For Bonnie and Foxy, time seemed to stand still in a moment of pure euphoria. Just hours earlier, Foxy had been worried that Bonnie may reject him and possibly never even speak to him again; no here they were, kissing each other by a lake bed. And it felt so right, so natural. He wished he could stay like this forever. As his lips made contact with the rabbit's, Foxy felt completely overwhelmed with emotions, as if all of his actions in the past month had been leading up to this single, blissful moment; he never wanted it to end.

Eventually, the newly formed couple broke apart, gasping for air. They looked at each other again before laughing a bit, both still blushing.

"I-I don't really know what to say." Bonnie stuttered, looking at the ground shyly.

"Then don't say anything," Foxy replied affectionately as he squeezed Bonnie's paw tighter, never wanting to let go, "let's just enjoy this moment while it lasts."

Foxy kissed Bonnie on the lips again, albeit much more quickly this time. Bonnie smiled shyly before Foxy gently pulled them both into a reclined position. The short rabbit repositioned himself so that he was snuggled up against Foxy with his head resting on the fox's chest, while both of them wrapped their arms around each other.

As Bonnie listened to Foxy's heartbeat and felt the steady rise and fall of his chest with each breath, any emotional trauma he had experienced because of Nero seemed to melt away. Every bad memory that had plagued Bonnie for the past few weeks was pushed to the side as a slew of new emotions flooded Bonnie's mind. Finally, one month later, Bonnie really was OK, and it was all thanks to Foxy.

"I love you, Foxy." Bonnie whispered, finally breaking the silence.

Foxy smiled as he lovingly rubbed the back of Bonnie's head.

"I love you too, Bonnie."

After several minutes of cuddling, Foxy realized that Bonnie had fallen asleep when he heard soft, cute snoring coming from the rabbit. Foxy looked up at the stars before closing his own eyes.

_No matter what challenges tomorrow throws at us, _Foxy thought before a peaceful sleep overcame him,_ we'll face it together. I will never leave your side, Bonnie, I promise._


	12. Open Up

Foxy slowly opened his eyes, having been awoken by the sounds of rustling leaves and chirping birds. He looked up into the bright blue sky, the sun already high in the sky. His neck and back were extremely stiff from sleeping on the ground all night. Still half asleep and somewhat confused, Foxy tried to sit up before he realized that there was something on top of him. He craned his neck to see that something was Bonnie, who was still fast asleep with his head resting on Foxy's chest, a small smile present on his lavender muzzle.

Upon remembering the events of the previous night, Foxy smiled at his still sleeping boyfriend and let out a sigh of contentment before lying back down. The fox lay there for a few minutes lightly rubbing Bonnie's head, allowing his tail to swish freely back and forth. Yesterday had been a dream come true for Foxy, and he wanted to just stay like this, holding Bonnie while he slept by a peaceful lakebed, far away from any prying eyes.

After a few minutes, Bonnie began to stir. He let out a cute yawn before opening his crimson eyes and looking up at Foxy.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Foxy greeted the rabbit, who let out another yawn.

"Good morning, beautiful." Bonnie replied as he smiled sheepishly.

Bonnie shifted slightly so that his head was closer to Foxy's. Foxy took this opportunity to kiss Bonnie on the forehead, causing the rabbit to blush slightly.

"You're cute when your embarrassed," Foxy pointed out as he booped Bonnie on the nose with his good paw, causing the rabbit to blush even more.

Bonnie simply responded by nuzzling Foxy's neck, an act that Foxy happily reciprocated.

They lay like this for several minutes, wanting to just enjoy their time together alone in the woods. Eventually, however, Foxy broke the silence.

"Uh, Bonnie," he said hesitantly.

"Hm?" Bonnie replied contently, nuzzling Foxy again.

"Not that I don't love holding you like this," Foxy began, "but the ground is kinda hard."

Bonnie looked up at Foxy and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry." The rabbit replied as he sat up, pulling Foxy up with him so that they were both in a seated position.

"Thanks, Dracula." Foxy replied with a smirk.

Bonnie stared at him for a second, confused, before remembering that he was still wearing his vampire costume from the night before. The rabbit chuckled before removing his fangs from inside his mouth (much to Foxy's dismay).

"These things are actually super uncomfortable." Bonnie explained when he saw the look on Foxy's face.

"That's OK," Foxy replied as he leaned in a little closer to the rabbit, "you're still just as cute without them."

He gave Bonnie quick peck on the lips, causing both Anthros to blush slightly, before turning to face the lake. Bonnie did the same, holding Foxy's left paw in his right.

"So," Bonnie began, "have you always known you were, you know..."

His voice trailed off as he stared out at the crystal blue water.

"Gay?" Foxy asked, turning to face the rabbit.

"Yeah..." Bonnie replied, red eyes still unmoving.

"No," Foxy admitted, turning back to face the lake, "although I always had a suspicion. I actually had a girlfriend in high school, but she was always much more interested in the, er, [physical] aspect of our relationship than I was."

"Did you guys...?" Bonnie asked uncomfortably.

"Haha, no," Foxy replied with a chuckle, seemingly relieving Bonnie, "it just never felt right. Like I said, I was never really that into girls like all my friends were. Thing is, it wasn't like I was ever really interested in any guys either, so I didn't know. Of course, then I bumped into you, quite literally if I remember correctly."

Foxy winked at Bonnie, who just smiled shyly at the memory of getting knocked over by Foxy on his run.

"I couldn't get you off of my mind after that day," Foxy continued, "and once we started hanging out more and more, I realized that I was falling for you, but I tried to push those feelings down because I was scared of them. But once you went missing, I was so upset and so worried that I knew I cared about you as more than a friend. I just never thought in my wildest dreams that you would feel the same way."

Bonnie blushed as Foxy nuzzled his cheek.

_He's so cute when he blushes. _Foxy thought as rubbed his muzzle against the rabbit's face. _Good thing, too, he blushes at just about anything._

"What about you?" Foxy asked as he pulled away from the rabbit. "How long have you known?"

Bonnie just sighed as he looked out over the lake.

"My whole life, pretty much." the purple rabbit answered glumly.

Foxy frowned slightly.

"Why is that so bad?" the fox asked, somewhat confused.

"Because my life was hard enough growing up already." Bonnie replied, his voice cracking slightly, "Before I came here, I was picked on mercilessly for anything you could think of. Being too short, being too skinny, being unathletic, you name it. People called me things like "wimp" and "fag" just because they wanted to insult me; I wasn't about to give them another reason to pick on me. I don't think I could have handled it.

"And that's not even getting started on my father," the purple rabbit continued, tears forming in his eyes, "Nothing I ever did was good enough for him. I was always disappointing him in some way or another, no matter how hard I tried. He always told me to "man up" any time I got upset over something, especially if [he] caused it. Not to mention how much he ranted on about how horrible humans were, or anyone that was different than him. I don't even want to know how he would have reacted to having a gay son. I've lived my entire life up until now being afraid of who I was, trying so hard to repress it. Now, I don't really know what to do."

Foxy felt a pang of guilt; he certainly hadn't meant to upset Bonnie like this, especially now that they had just become a couple.

Bonnie, however, wiped his eyes and smiled at Foxy.

"But then I met you," Bonnie continued, "I felt like I could trust you with anything. In my mind, you were the first person who really liked me because of who I was, not just out of convenience. You were so brave and strong and funny and sweet and caring, and you made me so happy. And when I saw your face inside of that slaughterhouse, and realized that you had risked your own life to save me, I knew that I was in love. When they said you still hadn't woken up after a week, I thought that you'd...you'd..."

Bonnie's voice trailed off as tears began to form in his eyes again. Foxy pulled him in for a hug, allowing the purple rabbit to cry into his shoulder.

"You really thought all those things about me?" the fox asked, ears perking up slightly. No one had ever complimented him like that; this time, he was the one to blush.

"Of course I did," Bonnie replied through his diminishing sobs, "you were - [are] - my whole world. I couldn't bear to think of my life now without you in it."

Bonnie pulled away, allowing Foxy to wipe his tears away. Bonnie shuddered at the fox's gentle touch on his face.

"Although," Bonnie continued, suddenly giving Foxy a seductive look, "it certainly didn't hurt that the first time I saw you was with your shirt off."

Foxy's face was now the color of his pirate coat; bright red. Bonnie just chuckled before kissing Foxy on the lips again.

_I could get used to this._ The lagomorph thought as he wrapped his arms around Foxy.

Before he knew it, Foxy was lying on the ground with Bonnie on top of him, their lips still locked together. Bonnie broke away and sat up so that he was straddling the fox, a look of lustful desire in his eyes. Bonnie then began to slowly unbutton Foxy's shirt. As Bonnie did this, Foxy slid his good paw down to his crotch, clumsily undoing his belt. Both Anthros hearts were racing, faces hot with blush.

However, just as Foxy unzipped his pants and placed his paw on the bulge coming from inside his boxers, he stopped and pulled his paw away.

"Wait," he asserted suddenly, surprising the rabbit, "we shouldn't do this yet. I mean, we did just get together and all, maybe we should wait."

Bonnie gave Foxy a slight frown, but sighed and slid off of Foxy, lying down next to him.

"Sorry," Bonnie apologized, somewhat ashamed of himself, "I just got a little carried away."

"You don't need to apologize," Foxy said, turning his head to face the rabbit, "it's just that, this is all moving really fast. Truth be told, I'm a little freaked out by all of this."

Bonnie turned to Foxy and gave a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, me too." Bonnie admitted with a slight chuckle. "You're right, we should take this slow."

Foxy breathed a sigh of relief as he gazed into Bonnie's red eyes, which reminded Foxy of tiny rubies, slightly glinting in the sunlight.

"I mean, I've never even been in a relationship before. Unlike you, Mr. Ladies Man." Bonnie teased with a wink.

"Shut up." Foxy responded with a chuckle as he playfully batted at Bonnie nose with his paw.

Bonnie retaliated by suddenly tickling Foxy's stomach (he had easy access thanks to the canine's unbuttoned shirt), causing the fox to laugh and squirm. This only enticed Bonnie even more, as the rabbit then began to use both paws to tickle the fox.

"Argh', enough of that, or ye be walkin' the plank!" Foxy threatened in a fake, exaggerated pirate accent, brandishing his plastic hook to show that he was 'serious'.

After about a minute of this, both Anthros lay on the ground facing each other, out of breath. Bonnie was the first to sit up.

"We should get back." Bonnie announced as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. "It's already almost noon, and my phone's about to die."

Foxy nodded in agreement, allowing Bonnie to pull both of them up (after he zipped up his pants and re-buckled his belt). Foxy picked up his sword and reattached it to his belt, and Bonnie picked up his guitar. They then set off on the short trek back to their dorms, holding paws as they went.

* * *

Freddy heard a knock on his door. He sighed; he really needed to study for this midterm.

"Who is it?" he called out, somewhat annoyed. This had better be important.

_"Freddy, it's me. Open up."_

It was Chica: both the person whom he really wanted to speak to but avoid at the same time.

He reluctantly stood up from his chair and walked over to the door, opening it slowly.

"Hey," the chicken greeted somewhat hesitantly. She was wearing a gray beanie on her head, as well as a blue sweatshirt and sweatpants. She also had bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept much the night before.

"Hey," Freddy responded glumly, avoiding eye contact.

"Can I come in?" Chica asked uncomfortably. "Please?"

Freddy nodded silently and stepped aside, allowing Chica to enter the room. They each took a seat in a chair, facing each other.

"Listen, Freddy, I-" Chica began.

"Can I go first?" Freddy interrupted.

Chica nodded, slightly taken aback. Interrupting people was extremely unlike Freddy; he was usually so polite. Chica felt even more guilty now; she knew this was her fault.

"Chica, I'm not mad at you." Freddy began, "And I don't blame you for turning me down. But that doesn't change the fact that I've been miserable this past week. I've had enough on my plate with midterms, projects, two of my best friends being in the hospital, BB, Nero, and everything else that's happened to us, but all I can think about is how heartbroken I've been. I'm not even upset that you don't want to be in a relationship with me; I'm just confused as to why you won't even give it a chance. All I asked for was one date, but you rejected me without any hesitation."

Freddy took a deep breath in and let out a sigh. It actually felt good to get all of this off of his chest. Chica waited to see if Freddy was done, and began to speak once she realized he was.

"Freddy," she began, a look of sadness in her violet eyes, "I've lived my entire life hiding behind a mask. I'm afraid of letting anyone get too close. Before I came here, I spent what seemed like every waking moment defending Bonnie from bullies, and they only way I could do that was if I acted cold and distant. I spent years trying to suppress all of my emotions, until eventually there was nothing left."

"So this is Bonnie's fault?!" Freddy asked, incredulous that Chica was trying to put the blame on her own brother.

"Let me finish!" Chica snapped back. "I never once regretted it, nor do I hold any grudge against Bonnie. He's my twin brother, and I love him more than anything. Everyone who tried to get close just ended up hurting me or him, or both of us, and I never had any problem shutting everyone out until I met you."

Freddy raised an eyebrow, slightly confused.

"When I first sat down next to you at Orientation a few months ago, I realized that you were different. When I saw how upset that receptionist made you by going on about your dad and grandpa, I realized that all you wanted was to fit in. I admired that about you and I felt like I could trust you. I had actually developed romantic feelings for you, but I didn't know how to handle them. I tried to just push them down like everything else, but they kept coming back."

"That doesn't explain why you said no to me." Freddy pointed out, "If anything, then you would have been more likely to yes to me."

"When you asked me out, I freaked out." Chica continued, her voice cracking, "I thought back to all of the times I let anyone get too close, and how badly it ended."

"Chica, I would never hurt you like that." Freddy protested, "You know me. I'm not like that."

"I know that," Chica replied, close to tears at this point, "but if I enter a relationship with you, or anyone for that matter, then I would have show my feelings. The thing is, I don't even know if I _can_ open up like that anymore. I'm scared that if we start dating, and if I do something wrong, then I'll lose you completely."

Chica put her face in her wings, bawling at this point. Freddy stared at the ground for a second, thinking.

Chica clearly had more emotional baggage than Freddy had realized. He had heard snippets about her and Bonnie's life before college, and he knew that they had it kinda rough. Still, she was so scared to open up to anyone that the thought of a relationship terrified her more than anything else.

Chica suddenly stood up, ready to leave.

"I'm s-sorry I bothered you," she apologized mid-sob as she approached the door, "I'd better get going before I do any more damage."

However, just before she reached for the doorknob, Freddy put his paw on her shoulder. She turned around hesitantly only for Freddy to pull her into a comforting embrace.

"Chica, I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do." Freddy began as he held the bird in his arms, "Regardless of what romantic connection we do or don't share, I care about you, and I hate to see you so upset. If us just being friends is what it takes for you to be happy, then I'm OK with that."

And he meant it this time.

"R-really?" Chica sniffled out as she looked up at the bear, being a few inches shorter than him.

"Yes," Freddy answered, smiling, "I just wish you had told me the truth earlier. You know, you have to open up to your friends, too; that's part of being friends with someone."

Chica smiled at Freddy.

"Thank you, Freddy."

* * *

"Foxy?" Bonnie asked the fox.

They had just reached the edge of the woods, still barely out of sight from the (trashed) quad.

"What is it?" Foxy replied, still holding Bonnie's paw.

"About us taking things slow," Bonnie began, "I don't think I want to start, you know, telling people about us yet. Is that OK with you?"

Bonnie looked up hopefully at Foxy, who just smiled in return.

"Of course," Foxy reassured, "but you know as well as I do that we can't keep this a secret forever."

"I know," Bonnie replied, "I'm just scared about how people will react, but I still want to be with you. I don't know what to do."

The rabbit sighed as he looked at the ground.

"Tell you what," Foxy offered, wrapping his paws around Bonnie's waist, "how about, for now, we don't change the way we interact in public at all from what it was before, but here in the woods, we can be boyfriends. How does that sound?"

Bonnie blushed upon hearing the word "boyfriends"; just the thought of being in a relationship with Foxy made him giddy.

"I'd like that." Bonnie responded as he wrapped his arms around Foxy's neck, kissing him on the lips.

Foxy kissed back, pulling Bonnie in closer. He knew that it was going to be difficult not showing any romantic affection in public, especially now, but he couldn't fathom betraying Bonnie's trust.

* * *

The next few days passed without much incident for Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, or Foxy. All 4 Anthro students were busy the rest of the weekend, since midterms were the following week.

At Fazbear University, "midterm" exams didn't actually take place in the middle of the semester; rather, they actually took place a couple of weeks later, about 2/3 of the way through the semester, since many professors liked to give a first, lower stakes exam 1/3 of the way through the semester to help prepare students for the actual midterm.

Freddy, however, wasn't so lucky; he needed to make at least an 80 on his Engineering midterm, or he would be dropped from the class. He was very smart (he and everyone who had met him knew that), but he had no idea what to expect. Therefore, he was often up late at the library, attempting to remember everything Dr. Schmidt had presented in the past few months.

Bonnie and Foxy, however, had another time commitment they wanted to keep. Every night at about 9:30, right after Bonnie got off of work, the two of them would sneak off into the woods to spend time with each other.

These precious hours alone in the woods were sacred to Bonnie and Foxy. For now, this was the only time and place they could be completely open about their feelings. They usually didn't do much besides walk around holding paws, with occasional small talk, but that was all they needed; as long as they were together, they were happy.

However, Bonnie's constant disappearances didn't go unnoticed; Freddy became immediately aware of Bonnie's sneaking around and suspicious behavior. When Bonnie didn't return to their room the day after Halloween until past noon, Freddy had been worried, remembering the last time Bonnie didn't come back to his room. When the bear asked his roommate where he had been, the rabbit simply replied with with a vague "out". This struck Freddy as strange, but he didn't push the matter; as long as Bonnie was alright, Freddy didn't worry.

The first strange thing that happened to Foxy and Bonnie was on Tuesday, during their English class. Their midterm was on Thursday, so this class was going to be review.

Foxy was the first of his table to arrive to class. He placed his notes on his desk (many of them were actually Bonnie's, who had photocopied them and given them to Foxy while the latter was in the hospital), and began skimming them, trying to make sense of them. He grunted in pain as he lifted his arm; he had just been cleared to go back to class, but he still felt stiff and weak.

His mood only worsened when he saw Brad sit down across from him; the small blue rabbit's presence only annoyed him, with how cocky and rude he was.

"Foxy, I heard about what happened," Brad began, a flat tone in his voice that almost hinted at sarcasm, "I'm glad to see you're finally up and around again"

"Thanks." Foxy replied curtly, not looking up. He was behind enough in studying as it was, he didn't need Brad making things worse by distracting him.

"Anyway," the rabbit began, "now that you're back and healthy, I wanted to ask if you'd reconsidered my offer. We certainly have a place for you in Tau Alpha Nu, and-"

"Listen, Brad," Foxy interrupted, "I don't want to join your fraternity. I don't want to join any fraternity. You however, cant seem to take no for an answer. In fact, I don't understand why you even still [want] me, even though I've made it abundantly clear that I have no interest in bring in your organization. You motivation confuses me, and I want no part of it, end of story. So, for the last time: Leave. Me. Alone."

Foxy spat out the last three words, clearly about to lose his temper. Brad, however, just smirked, not even saying anything.

"Oh trust me, you'll join us," he taunted, "One way or another, you'll join us. Mark my words."

Meanwhile, Bonnie had just walked into the classroom and was heading over to their table.

"Hey." Bonnie greeted Foxy as he sat down, ignoring Brad.

"Hey." Foxy replied casually.

Part of Bonnie and Foxy keeping their relationship a secret was staying as casual as possible around each other, hoping that no one would pick up on any romantic hints between them.

As Bonnie sat down and reached down to open his own backpack, Foxy shot Brad a quick glance. Brad simply gave a smug look in return, making Foxy instantly nervous. There was no way Brad could possibly know about him and Bonnie, right?

Foxy looked back down at his notebook as their professor, a short Anthro owl with circular glasses, walked into the room. Whatever the case was with Brad, it seemed that Foxy and Bonnie weren't out of the woods quite yet.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow guys, it has certainly been a long time! Sorry for the wait. I****'ll get right to it, updates are going to be slow for the next couple of months. Basically, I won't have access to a computer until August, but I will have my phone, though writing takes much longer than on my laptop. Thing is, I'll have very little free time this summer during which to write, but I don't want to cancel this story or put it on hiatus. I also don't want the quality of these next few chapters to be any less than what it has been, so I'm going to need a lot more time between chapters in order to create a quality product. I AM doing something I love this summer, but I still want to keep writing, since I've found that I really enjoy it. ****Thanks for bearing with me on this.**

**tl;dr - Story is NOT cancelled or on hiatus, but updates will be way slower until August.**

**Thank you for all of your continued support, and I will see you guys in the next chapter!**


	13. Hollow Victory

"You have five minutes." Dr. Schmidt called out from the front of the lecture hall.

Freddy put down his pencil and breathed a sigh of relief, having just finished his engineering midterm. He stretched his right paw out, which had become extremely tense after writing frantically for the past 2 hours; the exam was long, and designed to be difficult to finish within the time limit. He spent the remaining time reviewing his test, while many of his fellow students rushed to finish around him.

Satisfied, the bear stood up to hand in his test, feeling a sense of accomplishment as he did so. He felt fairly confident in his performance, especially considering everything he had been through the past several weeks. As he left the classroom, several heads turned in his direction; Freddy pretended not to notice and kept walking, eager to get out of the classroom.

Freddy Fazbear had developed quite a reputation in his first semester of college. Fazbear University was a medium sized college, about 10,000 students, but everyone in the state knew Freddy's name by now, thanks to the Nero incident. Details were initially clouded in mystery, as the police didn't disclose much at first, but when Freddy showed up to his classes after being out for a few days with several burn marks and his arm in a sling, people put two and two together. Foxy and Bonnie got a lot of this attention as well, but they didn't mind it as much as Freddy, who had unfortunately dealt with unwanted attention all his life.

The only person who seemed to be able to fly under that radar was Chica. This was partially because she didn't show nearly as much visible sign of injury or trauma, unlike the three guys. Additionally, most people knew that one of the people who went to save Bonnie was his sister, but they wouldn't have been able to recognize Chica as Bonnie's twin at first sight. Chica was somewhat grateful for this, having seen the stares and pointing and whispers that her brother and friends endured after they each got out of the hospital.

Speaking of Chica, the yellow bird had just sat down in the dining hall, where she was planning on meeting Freddy for lunch. She and Freddy had been on surprisingly good terms the past couple of days, since the two had talked about their relationship with each other. The two definitely had romantic feelings for each other, but had decided that it would be better for both of them if they stayed friends, at least for now.

Chica looked up to see Freddy walk by with his tray, smiling and gesturing the bear over to where she was sitting. Freddy walked over and sat down, sighing as he did so.

"How was it?" the bird asked, taking a bite of pasta.

"Better than expected." Freddy replied as he dipped a french fry in the small bowl of ketchup. "I actually finished, which most people don't. But I also feel like I kinda rushed through it, so-"

"Freddy," Chica cut him off, giving him a knowing look, "we know you aced it, you don't have to be modest."

Freddy shrugged. "Fair enough. I'll shut up."

"That's better." Chica winked before returning her attention to the bowl of pasta in front of her.

Freddy took a bite out of his burger, chewing and swallowing before opening his mouth again to speak.

"Oh yeah," the bear began, "Bonnie and I are gonna watch some movies in our room on Friday night to celebrate the end of exams. You wanna come?"

"Sure," Chica replied, "I can't wait to be done with my French oral exam tomorrow. What all do you have left?"

"Just Physics tomorrow morning," Freddy answered, "thank God Dr. Smith isn't making us take a midterm in Biology."

Chica nodded in agreement. In Nero's absence, Dr. Smith had taken over his teaching load for the remainder of the semester, although he opted to not have a midterm exam, since the semester had been so hectic. The students didn't mind, especially since his lectures were less informative and helpful than Nero's, if not also less terrifying.

"Speaking of Biology," Chica began, "is Foxy gonna be there Friday?"

"I would assume so," Freddy answered, "I'll bet Bonnie's already asked him. Which reminds me, does it seem like they've been spending even more time together than usual?"

"You know, I'm actually not sure." Chica responded, setting her fork down, "The thing is, I used to see them together a lot, but now it's more like I never see either of them anymore, you know?"

"Yeah..." Freddy muttered, placing his paw on his chin, "you think Foxy's told Bonnie that... you know."

"Maybe." Chica replied thoughtfully, "has Bonnie mentioned anything to you?"

"No, and Foxy hasn't said anything either," the bear replied, looking down, before suddenly looking back up, meeting Chica purple eyes with his blue ones.

"Do you think their, like, _together_ now, and don't wanna tell anyone?" Freddy asked softly, not wanting anyone to overhear.

"It would certainly explain a lot." Chica responded, nodding somewhat hesitantly.

"Ok, second relevant question," Freddy continued, "and I feel like an idiot for not asking earlier, but is Bonnie actually gay? You know him better than I do, and it occurs to me that I haven't even thought of that."

"Me neither," Chica admitted with a sigh, "The thing is, I really don't know. Bonnie's never really that open about that kind of thing, even to me, although with good reason; our dad's pretty prejudiced in general. Our mom would probably be fine, but she's not the one I'd be worried about."

"Now that I think about it, I guess we never really thought about that before now..." Freddy trailed off, a hint of guilt in his voice, "I mean, think about it. We were the ones pushing Foxy to tell Bonnie how he felt, and we didn't even think about all the ways it could end badly. If Bonnie's not gay, would he still be comfortable even being friends with Foxy knowing that he has feelings for him? Maybe Foxy's just been moping this whole time, and Bonnie's trying to avoid seeing him, which is why we haven't seen either of them except in class. I only see Bonnie at the end of the day, and he usually just shows back up and goes to sleep or studies quietly."

He looked up at Chica, sharing a slightly awkward glance before coughing and breaking eye contact, the scenario he described having been what had just happened between him and Chica.

"I mean, that is worse case scenario." Chica quickly pointed out, wanting desperately to break the awkward silence between them. "For all we know, nothing's bad's even happened; maybe Foxy told Bonnie he was gay, but they decided to just stay friends. There's probably nothing wrong."

"Yeah, probably," Freddy replied thoughtfully as he stared at his food, "I hope not..."

* * *

Foxy put his pencil down, almost done with his English exam. He used this opportunity to stretch his right paw, which, while now out of the bandage, still cramped up easily after not being used in so long, especially when writing.

The fox looked around the almost deserted classroom; Foxy was one of the last to finish, with Brad and Bonnie having already left. This gave the red canine some relief; he didn't have to deal with Brad today.

Finally the fox finished the final essay on _Moby Dick_ and stood up to turn in the paper to the owl that sat at the desk. The owl nodded silently at Foxy as he placed the exam on the considerably large pile on the corner of the desk. Foxy slowly made his way towards the door, finally able to walk without crutches.

However just as Foxy almost reached the restroom across the hall from his classroom, he felt a paw on his shoulder. Hoping it was Bonnie, the fox turned around only to see the smug, light blue muzzle belonging to Brad.

"Have you seriously been camping outside of this classroom for 20 minutes waiting for me?" the fox asked, raising an eyebrow, "because, while I admire your dedication, I guess, your inability to take no for an answer really doesn't help your case."

"That's why I'm not asking you anymore," Brad replied, removing his paw, "I'm telling you; you are going to join Tau Alpha Nu."

"Are you threatening me?" Foxy muttered, his voice cold as ice.

"No, I would never threaten you." Brad replied with a mock-innocence that made Foxy want to punch him.

"Good," Foxy spat, annoyed, "since I can assure you that won't end well for you."

"What are you going to do, bite me?" Brad asked cockily, earning a low growl from Foxy. This unfortunately only seemed to amuse Brad more, since it was clearly the reaction he wanted.

"No, because I don't want to floss rabbit meat out of my teeth for the next month." Foxy snarled, baring his fangs to prove his point. This clearly intimidated Brad at least a little bit, but the blue rabbit tried his best not to show it.

"In fact," the fox continued in a much less intimidating voice, "I did a little research on your so-called fraternity, and it'd be kind of hard to join an organization that doesn't exist."

This got Brad's attention, as the smirk that was on his face earlier quickly vanished, replaced with mild shock.

"Yeah," Foxy shrugged, feigning innocence, "I checked the University's website for a list of student organizations, including fraternities, and Tau Alpha Nu was conspicuously absent from the list. A quick Google search revealed no such results, either. Now what kind of organization manages to have a house and members without officially existing? Care to shed some light on that?"

Brad glared at Foxy before speaking in a low voice.

"OK, Fawkes, no more playing nice. Yes, the fraternity isn't officially registered because it's a cover for something else. We didn't want any old person to go snooping around, since that something else isn't strictly speaking _legal_. The fact of the matter is, in order for us to execute our plans, a lot of people are gonna get hurt; I don't particularly like it, but it's a necessary evil. Fortunately for us, we have friends in high places who make sure that university officials look the other way while we execute our plans."

"And why are you telling me all this?" Foxy asked.

"Because," Brad replied, the smirk returning to his face, "you're already onto us, but it doesn't matter now since, as I said before, you will be joining us. You are a very importantly piece of the puzzle, and we have no intention of letting you go."

"Well, I'm not going to join a group that I know is doing something illegal, especially if people are going to get hurt." Foxy spat, appalled at the rabbit's smugness, "Now, I'm going to do the smart thing and call the police. If you seem to recall, the last time I took matters into my own hands, I was in a coma for two weeks, and it may surprise you to know that I have to intention of reliving that. Anyway, if that's all..."

Foxy turned to leave, feeling triumphant until Brad shoved a manilla envelope into his paws. Foxy opened it up, somewhat intrigued by what last ditch effort Brad had to get Foxy to join him in whatever he had planned...

It was a photograph of Foxy and Bonnie. They were standing in the woods with their arms wrapped around each other, their lips locked in a deep kiss. The quality was grainy, the camera clearly having been a long way away from the couple and zoomed in, but there was no mistaking it. Based on the outfits they were wearing, the photo had been taken the day before, just before sunset.

Foxy felt the color drain from his face, looking up at Brad with wide eyes. How had he managed to get this photo? Surely one of them would have heard someone in the woods near them?

"Ted is actually pretty quiet when he wants to be." Brad declared smugly, as if he had read the fox's mind.

"Have you been stalking me?" Foxy asked keeping his voice low, still trying to cope with the shock of his supposedly secret relationship being discovered less than a week after it began. "How long has this been going on?"

"Oh, not long," Brad answered matter-of-factly, "just since Tuesday. I mean, you could practically smell the pheromones between you two. God, it was sickening to sit with you two for an hour and a half. Oh, and for the record, you guys' little 'act casual' routine doesn't work too well when your tail wags like a puppy with new ball whenever you're in the same room as him. Although, in your case, I guess it's actually two ba-"

Brad was cut short by Foxy grabbing him by the throat and slamming him against they wall in a choke hold. The fox bared in fangs and let out a vicious snarl.

"Leave him out of this!" Foxy shouted, attracting the attention of a few other students and a professor in the hallway.

"You're not the only one who can do research, Foxy," Brad choked out, with a smug grin still on his muzzle, "I hacked into Bonnie's student record and looked up his parents and address. I tell you, Charles doesn't sound like a pleasant guy at all. I do wonder what would happen if he found out his son was a faggot, don't you?"

Foxy released his grip on the rabbit, letting his slide to the ground. Brad caught his breath before standing back up and looking Foxy in the eye.

"I'm giving you a choice." The lagomorph declared, straightening his tie, "If you don't join us, that photo ends up in their mailbox. And don't bother tearing it up or anything, since I have_ plenty_ of extras."

Foxy just stood there, feeling numb. He knew that Brad was planning something illegal, and more people could get hurt. He couldn't willingly help them, especially since he seemed to play an important role in whatever it is they were planning. At the same time, he remembered the pain in Bonnie's eyes when he had told him about his dad, and how scared he was to come out to him. Still, he had no idea what TAN was planning. It may not even involve hurting anyone, and Brad may be bluffing. But the risk wasn't to Foxy, it was to Bonnie, and who knows how many others, and Foxy couldn't bring himself to betray Bonnie's trust like that. But would Bonnie understand if Foxy explained it to him? Who was Foxy to decide between Bonnie's fate and the possible safety of countless people?

"Like I said," Brad continued, "I'm not threatening _you_. And I know this is a big choice for you, so I'll give you until midnight on Friday to decide. My number's on the back of that photograph. Give me a call."

Brad gestured to the photo that was crumpled in Foxy's paw.

"Anyway, I'll be seeing you later." Brad gave the fox a sly grin before walking off, leaving the fox standing there, defeated and alone.

* * *

Friday afternoon came, and Freddy walked over to the door to his and Bonnie's room upon hearing a knock.

"Hey Chica," he greeted the bird as he opened the door, moving aside to let her in.

"Hey Freddy," Chica replied as she stepped inside, removing her shoes and looking at how the room had been rearranged.

Freddy and Bonnie had moved the desk under Bonnie's bed next to the one under Freddy's bed, making one large desk that held a medium sized TV and a DVD player. They had set up both chairs across the room, facing the TV. On the ground, in front of the chairs, sat a large bean bag that Chica recognized from...

"Stole that from the lobby?" she asked, gesturing to the bean bag, which was big enough to comfortably seat two people.

"Borrowed, thank you very much." Freddy replied with fake indignation, "And we have every intention of returning it...eventually."

"Right," she said as she raised an eyebrow, "and the TV?"

"That one we got with permission from some guys down the hall who are gonna be out of town this weekend," Freddy dismissed her with a wave of his paw, "But the bag, yeah, definitely just took that."

Chica shrugged and plopped down on the beanbag chair before looking back at Freddy.

"You know what, Freddy," Chica spoke after a few seconds, "I'll bet this is the most you've ever acted out or rebelled."

"What gives you that idea?" Freddy asked, almost defensively.

"Oh, come on," Chica scoffed, "like you weren't Mr. Goody Two-shoes before you came here. You've really grown up a lot Freddy, and I'm proud of you."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Miss I've-Been-Suspended-For-Fighting-Six-Times." Freddy quipped, sitting on the bag next to Chica.

"First of all, two times," the chicken retorted, lightly punching Freddy's arm twice as she enunciated the last two words, "and they had it coming both times."

"Did you win?" Freddy asked, turning to face the bird.

Chica raised an eyebrow as if to ask "Really?", eliciting a laugh from Freddy. This is what he had missed: being friends with Chica without any romantic ulterior motives. Bonnie was his best friend, sure, but with him and Foxy in the hospital for so long, Freddy hadn't realized how close he and Chica had become, especially after the had started fighting. Fortunately, though, it seemed that his friend count went from zero to three since he and Chica made up, and with Bonnie and Foxy back up to full health.

Speaking of which, the door to their room opened as Bonnie walked in with a stack of DVDs in his paws.

"Ah, Chica," he greeted his sister, "I see you've found our latest furniture addition. Personally, I really think it brings out the abhorrent lack of seating that these rooms provide."

"Yeah, the whole stolen-from-the-lobby-down-the-hall thing really adds to the, er, _charm_ of the room." Chica replied, hesitating as she picked up an empty bag of chips beside the bag.

Bonnie shrugged as he kicked his shoes off, narrowly missing Chica's head, and flipped through the DVDs in his paws and read the titles aloud.

"_Guardians of the Galaxy, LEGO Movie, X-men: Days of Future Past, Godzilla,_" the rabbit read aloud as he set each case on the desk, "I picked up all the new DVDs they had in the lobby. Which reminds me, Freddy, we should probably wait until the middle of the night to bring the bag back, since the RA at the desk asked me if I knew anything about it. It felt wrong to lie, but I know it's for the greater good."

"The greater good in this case of course being our comfort as we watch these _not_ stolen movies." Freddy replied as he got up to browse the DVDs, "You see, Chica, we do have _some _class."

"Exactly," Bonnie affirmed as he walked over to Freddy's mini-fridge and grabbed a soda.

"Wait," Chica began, "aren't there security cameras in the lobby? And also an RA always on duty?"

"I overheard one of the RAs saying that the cameras were out and wouldn't be fixed until sometime next week," Freddy replied, "they're keeping that information quiet for obvious reasons, but they didn't count on me being incredibly nosy. Also, Rick always falls asleep during his shift, which just happens to be tomorrow night. There's a schedule posted on the wall by the desk. Sprite?"

He offered Chica a can of soda, which the bird reached up to accept until they heard another knock on the door. Chica was closest, so she got the door.

"Hey, guys," Foxy greeted the others as he walked in, carrying two large bags of chips and other assorted snack foods, "Stolen bean bag?"

"Yep." Freddy answered, almost smugly.

"Nice." Foxy replied as he set the chips on the desk before removing his shoes off and setting them by the door.

Freddy put the first DVD in the player and sat down in one of the chairs, while Chica sat in the other. This left Bonnie and Foxy on the bean bag, which made the bear and chicken nervous for a moment; fortunately, neither the rabbit nor the fox seemed to have any objection, which gave Freddy and Chica some relief.

About halfway through _LEGO Movie_, Bonnie set his soda can down and rested his paws behind his head, glancing over at Foxy. The fox was lost deep in thought, not paying much attention to the movie. This worried Bonnie, as Foxy had seemed pretty down for the past day or so. Bonnie had tried asking Foxy about it, but the fox only gave very vague answers. Furthermore, he had told Bonnie that he wanted to talk to Bonnie in private specifically about their relationship, which worried Bonnie. What if Foxy wanted to break up? What if he wanted to go public? Would it be OK if they did? It wasn't like his dad could keep watch on him here, but what if a stray photo of the two of them found its way onto Facebook? These thoughts plagued Bonnie for the rest of the movie, causing him to lose focus as well.

Foxy, meanwhile, was grappling with the ultimatum that Brad had left him: agree to help Brad possibly hurt a lot of people, or indirectly out Bonnie to his father. Foxy, of course, wanted nothing more than to be in a normal relationship with Bonnie, where they could kiss in public and go on dates and meet each others' families and no one would bat an eye or think anything of it, but he was smart enough to know that wasn't realistic, at least not yet. Eventually, Foxy had decided that he would tell Bonnie about Brad's threat, even though he knew that it would upset the purple rabbit, but wanted to wait until they could get some alone time. Unfortunately, Ted had been camping out in their room since Wednesday, most likely on Brad's orders; the blue rabbit no doubt wanted Foxy to face this alone, possibly as punishment for blowing him off so many times before. Freddy also rarely left their room, but of course for much more innocent reasons like studying or sleeping; the bear didn't have any idea, and Foxy wasn't sure how to ask the bear to give him and Bonnie some privacy without Bonnie finding out Foxy told him.

Foxy gave a slight groan of frustration as he looked at the clock next to the TV: 10:53. Only about an hour left until Brad's offer expired, and Foxy was aware of every minute ticking away; he was running out of time, and a private conversation with Bonnie seemed out of the picture at this point.

Freddy and Chica noticed the two Anthros' discomfort; clearly, there was more tension between the two than they had previously thought; Freddy tried to think of a reason for he and Chica to leave the room and give Bonnie and Foxy them some alone time, but that could make things worse. He opted to just sit in silence, as Chica did the same.

The end of the movie brought a relief for all four students, as it gave them a chance to get up and move around and break the awkwardness that hung in the room. Chica got up and turned the light on, squinting as his eyes were flooded by the light. Freddy picked up the empty bags and soda cans that had found their way to the floor and placed them in the garbage can under the desk.

This left Bonnie and Foxy to pick another movie from the stack next to the television. As they both reached for the cases, their paws touched for a moment, causing both of them to pause and look at each other. Fortunately, Freddy was bent over reaching for a can that had rolled across the floor to the dresser, and Chica had left the room to use the restroom. As Bonnie looked into Foxy's eyes, he saw hurt and pain and guilt, but love above all else. Whatever it was that was plaguing Foxy, it was only doing so because of how he felt about the rabbit. In that moment, Bonnie decided that whatever Foxy was stressed about, he wasn't going to have to face it alone.

As he looked up in the fox's yellow eyes, he smiled and took his other paw in his own before kissing the fox on the lips. This sudden act of affection caught Foxy off guard, but he still happily returned the kiss, not caring if Freddy or Chica saw them like this. The fact of the matter was that they were together, and Freddy and Chica already knew that he was gay. Foxy had assumed that Bonnie would want to wait a while before telling anyone, and Foxy was fine with that, but it seemed that was no longer an issue.

"We'll give you two some space," they heard Chica say from the doorway. The couple broke their kiss and turned towards the door way to see Freddy and Chica standing there, smiling at the two of them.

Bonnie gave a sheepish smile as his sister and roommate left the room and shut the door behind them. He then turned back to Foxy and placed one paw on his cheek, lightly caressing the side of the fox's face.

"I don't know what's bugging you," the rabbit began, "but I know that not being able to do that in front of anyone was bugging me more than anything. I don't want to hide who I am anymore, and I sure as hell don't want to you to think that I'm ashamed of you. I love you Foxy, and I don't care who knows it."

"What about your parents?" Foxy asked as Bonnie leaned forward to kiss him again, causing the rabbit to retract, his ears lowering slightly.

"Ah, yes," Bonnie muttered, a little annoyed at Foxy ruining the moment. Still the fox had a point, and was always able to think rationally. "I still haven't really decided yet. I mean, on one hand, I'd really like to be able to take you home to meet them, maybe go on vacations together. But, on the other hand..."

Bonnie's voice trailed off as he looked down, feeling as if he had disappointed his boyfriend by not wanting to face his father. Foxy, however, placed his paw on the rabbit's chin and lightly lifted his muzzle so that they were face to face again.

"I want all of those things too," Foxy began, "but I also know we have to be practical. If you don't think coming out to your parents is a safe idea, then you shouldn't do it. But, like I said before, they will find out eventually."

"I know," Bonnie replied, squeezing Foxy's paw, "and I've thought a lot about it the past week, and I am going to come out to them eventually. I just don't know when. I mean, two months ago, I would have been perfectly content to stay in the closet my entire life, and yet here we are."

"Well," Foxy assured him, nuzzling the rabbits cheek as he spoke, "I'll be right here when you do, no matter what happens. I won't rush you or pressure you to do anything, ever. You should wait until you're ready."

"Thanks, Foxy," Bonnie smiled as he rested his head against Foxy's chest, letting the fox hold him in a comforting embrace. This was what he loved about Foxy; he always seemed to have a plan or know what to do; he was confident in himself without being narcissistic, but he never tried to control anyone else around him. Bonnie felt that, no matter what happened, Foxy would be there to protect him and stand by his side.

As he held the rabbit, Foxy glanced at the clock on the desk: 11:49. After seeing how much Bonnie trusted him, he knew what he had to do. He released the purple rabbit and headed for the door, pulling out his phone as he went.

"I have to call my aunt," Foxy explained, "I promised her I would call her after my exams were over. I forgot earlier, and I want to call her before she goes to sleep.

Foxy felt guilty lying to Bonnie, but he had convinced himself it was for the best. Even though Bonnie felt more comfortable about their relationship in public, he should come out to his parents on his own terms, not Brad's.

He opened the door to see Freddy and Chica sitting in the hallway across from the room.

"We thought you two might be a while," Freddy explained as he stood up, "You heading out?"

"No," Foxy answered, "I just have to make a quick phone call, I'll only be a few minutes."

Freddy patted Foxy on the shoulder as if to say "good job" and entered his room, followed by Chica. Foxy waited until the door was closed and walked down the stairs to their first floor and stepped outside into the cold, bitter November air.

The fox scrolled through his contacts until he found Brad's name and clicked _Dial_. He held the phone up to his ear and waited for the blue rabbit to pick up.

"_Ah, Foxy,"_ Brad greeted in his usual sneering voice, _"I was beginning to think that you wouldn't call. You know how much it hurts my feelings to be ignored."_

Brad paused as if waiting for Foxy to laugh at his joke, but got only silence.

"_Anyway," _the rabbit continued, in a more natural voice, _"I take it you've made a decsion."_

Foxy looked up at the window to Bonnie and Freddy's room. He could see Chica hugging the rabbit, no doubt congratulating him on his new relationship.

"Yeah," the fox answered, tearing his eyes away from the scene, "I'm in."

* * *

**Author's Note: Hey guys I'm back! And only 3 and half months later than promised! But in all seriousness, I got super busy with school right when classes started, and I really haven't had a break until this week. Furthermore, for those of you who don't know, writing is something that is extremely difficult to get back into after being away for so long; it takes practice to get back into the swing of things. However, I feel good about finally getting this chapter done, and I'm super excited to get back to working on this story semi-regularly again!**

**Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving, and as always I appreciated all of your favorites, follows, messages and reviews (yes, even the ones that bug me to get back to work on the story)! ;P**

**See you guys next chapter!**


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